The OTHER Generation X
by invincible13matt
Summary: While Jaden and crew were off at Duel Academy on another part of the Earth, another class of topclass duelists was emerging...If you read and enjoy, please review.
1. A New Generation

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of YuGiOh! GX

The OTHER Generation X

Chapter 1- A New Generation

It was still pretty early, but Drake was already up.

"This is the day!" he said, sitting on his bed. "This is the day that I leave the normal path of education and go into something more suited to me." Drake had never been very good in school. Sure, he had always scraped passes in all the normal subjects, but he had never really felt comfortable in it. He had problems remembering all of the various things, and mixed up definitions and formulas. Much to the dismay of his parents, he had instead immersed himself in the game of Duel Monsters. He had played in a few statewide tournaments and had won them all. Shocking even himself with his great strategic abilities, he had assembled quite a collection of awards. But his most prized award was what was had woken him up this morning.

In his last state victory, a man had spoken with him about coming to a secret school created for exceptional duelists. After winning the entire tournament, the man had given him a letter and told him that he would be accepted for testing. Inside the letter was a short note telling him the date of his exams. He had already taken the written exam, and would soon take the practical dueling exam. He knew that he had just barely passed the written exam, so he figured that he needed to duel really well today in order to get in.

His alarm clock beeped. It was 7:40. Just about the time he usually got up. He grabbed his deck and his duel disk and prepared to leave.

"Where are you going?" his mom said.

"Didn't I tell you that I was going to that dueling practical exam to get into Duel Academy?"

"Yes, and I told you that you weren't going. Ever since you started playing that game your grades have dropped through the floor. I told you weren't allowed to play that game until your grades picked up, but you didn't listen. You played behind my back. Now, go put all that junk away!" Angry, Drake stomped back up the stairs. As soon as he got back up to his room, he began to fiddle with the glass on one of his windows. Unbeknownst to his mother, he had loosened one of the windows in his room to aid him in sneaking out at night to duel. After a few minutes, the glass pane came loose and a light breeze came in through the now-empty sill. He pulled a length of rope out of his closet, tied it to the leg of his nearby bed, and started climbing down the side of his house. He dropped the last few feet and began to run. He heard a shout but kept running.

He really had no idea where he was going, but he kept running just to get as far way from his house as possible. He looked down at the letter and noticed it told him that the practical would take place in the rec. center downtown. He was nowhere near there, so he would have to hitch a ride or really start running. He slid to a halt. There was no one in sight, so he stopped to catch his breath. Suddenly, a car pulled up beside him. The passenger door opened and Drake could see the driver.

He couldn't have been much older than Drake, only by about a year or two. He had long skinny legs that he attempted to conceal under very baggy pants. His thin arms also suggested that he was skinny, but his baggy T-shirt attempted to conceal this. His hair was a complete mess, it stuck out in several directions a bit. It came down to his eyes, which were almost electric with excitement.

"You were at the written exam yesterday, right?" he said

"Yes, how'd you know?" Drake asked.

"I saw you there. So you'd be going to the practical now, huh? How are you going to get there on time on foot?"

"I'm not sure."

"Hop in. I'm going there right now." Totally ignoring anything his mom might have taught him about accepting aid from a stranger (what did she know anyway?), Drake climbed in and shut the door behind him. There was a roar as the car's engine started revolving faster and pulled them around the corner.

"What's your name?" the driver asked.

"Drake."

"A rather strange name."

"Sort of. I've always liked it- at least there was never anyone else who had it in school. What's your name?"

"Keith."

"You're going to the practical, too? What kind of deck do you run?"

"Straight-up fiend beat down. You?"

"Chaos medieval."

"Huh?" Keith pulled around a corner.

"Light and dark warrior and spellcaster type monsters."

"Hm. An interesting concept." Keith pulled the car into a large lot. Several others were already parked there. "This is it."

"Great! Thanks a lot, Keith." Drake jumped out of the car.

"Don't thank me yet. I may have to beat you back to get into the Academy!" Keith shut the car down and locked it. Drake ran to the table in front of the rec. center. A blonde woman was seated behind it.

"Who are you? You're almost late." She said, grabbing a clipboard off the table.

"Drake Stizen."

"Oh, the regional champ?" she flipped through a few pages. "Yeah, you're here. You can go in. You'll be called when it's time for you to duel." Keith walked up. "And who are you?"

"Keith Natran."

The woman flipped back a few pages. "Yeah, you're here. Go on in." They walked in together.

"Who do you think they'll make us duel?" Keith asked. "Each other?"

"I don't know and don't really care. Maybe they'll make us duel the teachers! That would be fun." Drake said. "I could probably beat most of the people here, and I might be able to beat all the teachers."

"Yeah, I agree." They stepped inside the center. They were up on the balcony, looking down at the floor that usually had two basketball courts. The Academy had put metal plates over the wood floors and divided the courts into four areas. There was a duel raging in each one.

"Looks like we'll be dueling teachers… unless those guys in the white coats are students." Keith said.

"Yeah." They walked over to the bleachers and sat down next to another kid. He was about Drake's age, but about Keith's height. He appeared unfocused, as if he really wasn't aware of what was going on around him. He was leaning back against the bleacher behind him, one leg folded over with his ankle resting on the other. His hair was even messier than Keith's; it probably took a real big event to get him to comb it. As they approached he broke out of his trance and looked at them.

"Hello." He said. "I am going to assume that you are applying, too?"

"Yeah." Said Keith. "Who are you?"

"Flynn Tager." The lazy-looking kid said.

"An odd name."

"And yours is more normal?"

"I'm Keith."

"I'm Drake."

"Hmm. Did you just get here?"

"Yeah. Have you dueled yet?"

"No. But I should be coming up pretty soon."

At that moment one of the duels ended. "Would Mr. Flynn Tager please report to Duel Field No. 2." Came over the P.A. Flynn stood up.

"It has been nice chatting with you." He said, giving no indication that it really had been a nice chat. "But I must be off."

"Good luck out there." Keith said.

"Yeah, good luck." Drake said. Flynn nodded and walked towards the stairs, hands in his pockets. Drake watched him walk down the stairs. "That guy creeps me out."

"Yeah, I agree. Still, he's probably a pretty nice guy. We should get to know him better. Let's watch his duel."

"Sure."


	2. Fight to the Flynnish

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of YuGiOh! GX

Chapter 2- Fight to Flynn-ish

Keith and Drake walked around the perimeter of the balcony over to Flynn's dueling field. Flynn had just gotten set up and was getting ready to duel a slightly tubby man in a white lab coat.

"So, my young friend, would you like to go first?"

"Who are you calling 'friend'?" said Flynn. "But yes, I would like to go first."

"Duel!" they both said, and drew their cards.

Proctor: 4000 

**Flynn: 4000**

Flynn drew another card and looked down at it. After a short period of contemplation, he pulled a card out of the middle of his hand.

"I set one monster in defense mode. That's it." He said.

"You'll never win like that." The proctor said mildly. He drew his card and smiled. "I activate my Nobleman of Crossout. This allows me to destroy and remove from the game one face-down monster. Like that one." Flynn's face-down monster was cut in half and vanished. "And as a bonus, if the monster I destroy is a flip effect monster, we each search the other's deck for the same monster and remove every copy from our decks as well!"

"Too bad that doesn't work then." Flynn said, seemingly unconcerned. "It was Dragon Dwelling in the Cave."

"Oh, well. Guess I'll just summon Thunder Nyan-Nyan (Light/Thunder, 1900/900) in attack mode. Attack him directly!"

**Proctor: 4000**

**Flynn: 2100**

"That ends my turn."

"Wow, that stinks." Keith said.

"Yeah, turn one and he's already lost nearly half his life points." Drake said.

"Ahem. Before you bury me prematurely, I'd like to take my turn." Flynn said, and drew a card. "I summon my Armed Dragon Lv. 3 (Wind/Dragon/Effect, 1200/700). Unfortunately, for him and for you, he isn't hanging around for long. I'll activate my "Level Up!," sacrifice him for my Armed Dragon Lv. 5 (Wind/Dragon/Effect, 2400/1700). And I'll use my dragon's effect to ditch this card from my hand to blow away your pretty girl." Several sharp-edged discs came from the Dragon's stomach and sliced up the Proctor's Nyan. "And now, since you have no monsters or trap cards, I think I'll just attack you directly."

Proctor: 1600 

**Flynn: 2100**

"Not bad." The proctor said, drawing a card. "But I can stop it. I play Tribute to the Doomed. By tossing this card, I can destroy your Dragon." Thick bandages envoloped the Dragon and crushed it. "Now, I summon Neo the Magic Swordsman(Light/Spellcaster, 1700/1000) and attack you directly!"

Proctor: 1600 

**Flynn: 400**

By now, there was some mumbling going around the balcony: "He's done." "Yeah, how's he going to get out of this?"

Flynn stood there, looking bored. "Are you done yet?"

"No, I'm going to place a face-down and end my turn."

"Very well." Flynn drew his card. He looked at it and smirked. I think I'll summon my Lord of Dragons (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1200/1100). Then, I activate Polymerization!" Flynn said it in a voice uncharacteristic of him; He sounded very excited. "I fuse… these!" He pulled three cards out of his hand and showed them to the proctor. Three Blue-Eyes White Dragons! "With these, I can summon my BLUE-EYES ULTIMATE DRAGON!!!!" The massive, three-headed white dragon appeared on the field and gave a deafening roar. "The Proctor seemed to be immobilized by the sight of the huge, powerful dragon.

"You use one of those?!?" He said in disbelief.

"Yes, I do."

The proctor came back to himself. "Well too bad, I activate Raigeki Break. I discard this card and destroy the dragon!"

"Too bad the Lord of Dragons protects his loyal underling." Flynn said. The Ragieki Break card glowed green and exploded.

"Huh?!?" yelled the exam proctor.

"Not much of a proctor are you? Don't you know that Lord of Dragons protects all dragon-type monsters on my side of the field from being targeted by an effect?" Flynn asked.

"Oh, crap."

"BLUE-EYES ULTIMATE DRAGON, attack him now with Neutron Blast!!!" said Flynn. The big dragon reared its three heads, then sent a huge blast at the proctor's magic swordsman. He was instantly obliterated.

Proctor: 0 Flynn: 400 

"And that's it." Said Flynn, and walked off the field.


	3. Fiends and Fairies

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of YuGiOh! GX

Chapter 3- Fiends and Fairies

There was a collective cheer from the crowd. "Didn't think he'd pull THAT out!" "No kidding, who did?" "Not a one!"

"I did." Flynn said, walking up beside Keith and Drake. "Sorry for being a little rude earlier. I was slightly nervous."

"That's okay. That was great, though. Nice deck." Drake said.

"I've been using it for a while. I need to change it up a bit." Flynn admitted.

"Will Mr. Keith Natran please report to Duel Field Number 2?" came over the P.A.

"Well, here I go." Said Keith, and walked down the stairs that Flynn had come up.

"Good luck!" said Drake.

"Depending on the proctor, he'll need it." Said Flynn.

"How so?"

"I think that these proctors all have different skill levels. I must've played a pretty basic one, who doesn't know what Lord of Dragons does?" Flynn pointed out.

"Very few. It's seen a lot of use."

"And since they're going to change the proctor… it could be an entirely different scenario." As Flynn said this, the proctor he had dueled left the field to be replaced by a woman. She would have been good-looking if she didn't wear so much make-up and those high-heels.

"Who taught you fashion, lady?" called out Keith.

"Is that how you talk to your superiors, you twerp?" she said.

"No, it's just that sometimes, like my deck, I'm a bit nasty." Keith said, with an uncharacteristically evil smile. He activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!" they both said.

Proctor: 4000 Keith: 4000 

"Ladies first." Keith said.

"Fine!" the proctor drew a card. "I'll set one card face-down, then summon my "Spirit of the Harp" (Light/ Fairy, 800/2000) in defense mode! That's it."

"Okay…let's see." Keith drew his card. "I play… Mystical Space Typhoon!" The proctor's face-down card was blown away. "Now… I activate my Mystic Plasma Zone!" The field was instantly covered in a sort of purple-black fog. "Next, I summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp! (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1000) Vaporize that Spirit!" La Jinn blew a huge burst of fire at the Spirit and burned it away. "Then I'll set these two cards face-down. That's it."

"Good… good. But not good enough! I draw." The proctor drew her card. "I think I'll replace this hideous darkness with my Luminous Spark." The purple-black darkness with a bright flash. "Now that _that_ is gone, I'll summon Asura Priest (Light/Fairy/Spirit, 1700/1200) and destroy that 'mystical genie.'" The Asura Priest threw a series of knives at La Jinn and destroyed him.

Proctor: 4000 

**Keith: 3600**

"That will be all."

"Very well." Said Keith. The Asura Priest vanished from the field and returned to the proctor's hand. "It looks like you forgot that a spirit monster returns to its owner's hand when it is summoned! So…" Keith drew his card. "I'll summon another La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp and attack directly!"

Proctor: 2200 

**Keith: 3600**

"I'll set another card and end my turn."

"Now… I play Shinato's Ark!" said the Proctor.

"Uh-oh." Said Flynn.

"I'm not familiar with that card. What's it do?" said Drake.

"Well, it's a Ritual Spell-"

"Oh, crap. That can't be good. All the Ritual monsters I've faced have been ridiculously powerful. Black Luster Soldier, Magician of Black Chaos…"

"Yes, but Shinato is stronger than both of those…"

"Whoa."

"In any case, I will send Asura Priest and Dancing Fairy to the graveyard to summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane! (Light/Fairy/Ritual/Effect, 3300/3000)" said the Proctor. "Obliterate that Genie!" Shinato cast a huge spell that destroyed La Jinn and began to come at Keith. But before it could connect, a wall of brown fuzzballs with huge googly eyes appeared and blocked the shot. "What? You should be done!"

"Kuriboh!" Keith said. "I discarded Kuriboh to reduce damage from battle to zero!"

"Either way, Shinato's ability takes away life points equal to your monster's attack points!"

Proctor: 2200 

**Keith: 1800**

"I activate Michizuri! When one monster on the field is destroyed, I can activate this card to destroy another one of my choice! Farewell, Shinato!" said Keith. Two huge hands appeared and crushed Shinato.

The proctor looked fazed. "I'm done…"

"Very well…" Keith drew his card. "I summon Giant Orc (Dark/Fiend, 2200/0)! FINISH THIS!"

Proctor: 0 

**Keith: 1800**

"Game over." Said Keith, and walked away.


	4. Drake's Duel

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of YuGiOh! GX

Chapter 4- Drake's Duel

"Nice, Keith." Said Drake.

"Thanks. Too bad for her… I love that Michizuri." Keith said.

"Coincidentally, what were your other two face-downs?" said Flynn.

"Oh." Said Keith, and pulled two cards out of his pocket. "Call of the Haunted and Good Goblin Housekeeping. Just in case… I could've exchange a card or brought back a La Jinn. I had a couple of nasties coming up, I think."

"Will Mr. Drake Sitzen report to Duel Field Number 2 immediately." Came over the P.A.

"Okay, here I go!" said Drake. "Wish me luck."

"Luck is for chumps." Said Flynn. "Just go and beat the tar out of the proctor."

"Okaaaaaaaaay, whatever." Drake walked down the stairs and onto the dueling field. The woman was gone and had been replaced by a tall man with a very mean look about him. He wore blue, not white. "Who are you?"

"I'm one of the top professors at Duel Academy. Since you are the regional champ, I thought I'd give you a bit of a challenge. Heh heh…"

"Why do I not like this guy?" Keith said.

"Probably because he looks evil. He's giving me the chills." Flynn said.

"Doesn't matter." Said Drake. "I gotta duel this guy."

"Yes, you do. And since you are dueling me, it is highly likely that you will not get in to the Academy. So you had better be on your game." Said the evil-looking man. "Now without further ado…"

"Let's duel!" they both said.

**Evil-looking Professor: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

"You go first." Said the professor.

"Fine… I draw!" Drake drew his card. "Okay… I summon my Mystical Elf (Light/Spellcaster, 800/2000) in defense mode, and add a face down. That's all."

"My turn." The professor drew his card. "I summon… Goblin Elite Attack Force! (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 2200/1500) In attack mode, of course! Now, they'll destroy your monster!"

"Not quite. I activate my face-down, Waboku! Now you won't destroy my monster!"

"Grrr…"

"And now, since your battle phase is over, the Goblins go into defense mode!"

"Curses… I'll add a face down card. That's it."

"Right…" Drake drew a card. "I summon Dark Blade (Dark/Warrior, 1800/1500), in attack mode. Then, I'll attack and destroy the Goblin Elite!"

"No… I activate my Castle Walls trap card. With it, my Elite gains 500 defense points."

"Rats."

Evil-Looking Professor: 4000 

**Drake: 3800**

"I'll place two cards face-down and call it a turn."

"You'll need them… I sacrifice my Goblin Elite to summon Millennium Scorpion (Earth/Insect/Effect, 2000/1500) in attack mode!"

"Why would he sacrifice a stronger monster for that?" Keith asked.

"Because it's not weaker… well, right now it is." Flynn admitted. "But for one thing, it won't go to defense mode when it attacks. And that thing has a nasty special ability…"

"Eat Dark Blade!"

Evil-Looking Professor: 4000 

**Drake: 3600**

"And now, since Millennium Scorpion destroyed a monster, it gains five hundred attack points!"

"Hmm." Said Drake. "That leaves it with 2500… not bad."

"I set one card face-down and-"

"I activate my trap, Dust Tornado! That card is gone!" said Drake.

"Grr… fine. I'm done."

"Alright." Drake drew a card. "I play… Skilled Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/1700) in defense mode! That's it."

"Fine." The professor drew a card. "Destroy the elf!"

"Good thing I left it defense mode. That way I don't lose life points."

"Either way, my Scorpion gains 500 more attack points. Your turn."

"Hmm." Drake drew a card. "I summon Skilled White Magician (Light/Spellcaster/Effect, 1700/1900) in defense mode! Then I play Swords of Revealing Light! Now you can't attack for three turns. I'm done."

"In any case I can add a monster. I remove my Goblin Elite from the graveyard to summon Gigantes (Earth/Rock/Effect, 1900/1700) in attack mode! That's all."

"I draw… and that's all."

"Fine… I draw, then activate Gaia Power! This gives all my Earth monsters 500 attack points! Then I summon Neo Bug (Earth/Insect, 1800/1700) in attack mode! Your turn."

"Okay…this isn't good." Drake drew a card. "Hmm."

"Out of defensive monsters already? Terrible, terrible. You'll never get in that way."

"I'm not done yet! I summon Getsu Fuhma (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1700/1200) in defense mode. I'm done."

"You do realize that this will be the last turn you're protected by the Swords? I'll Sabersaurus (Earth/Dinosaur,1900/500) in Attack Mode! That's all." The Swords of Light that had been holding back the Proctor's monsters vanished. "Your turn."

"Very well!" Drake drew his card and let his arm drop to his side.

"Too scared to face your fate?" the professor taunted.

"No. I like to feed off of the dramatic tension." Drake said. His voice rose to a fevered pitch as he looked at the card in his hand, then to the cards in his hand. "I PLAY… POLYMERIZATION!!!!"

"NO!"

"Oh, YES! With it, I fuse DARK MAGICIAN and BUSTER BLADER in order to form the mighty DARK PALADIN, THE ULTIMATE MAGICAL SWORDSMAN!(Dark/Fusion/Spellcaster/Effect, 2900/2400)"

The proctor stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then burst out laughing. "So? You can't beat my best, Millennium Scorpion! Next turn, I'll wipe him off the board and wipe you out!"

"I'm not done yet! I'll activate my Pot of Greed! Now I'll draw two extra cards."

"So?"

"I sacrifice my Skilled Dark Magician and his three Spell Counters to revive my Dark Magician!"

"Yet again, so?"

"I reveal my face-down card, Knight's Title! With it, I can sacrifice my Dark Magician to Special Summon my Dark Magician Knight(Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2500/2100)! And when he's summoned, I'm allowed to automatically destroy one card on the field! Destroy the Millennium Scorpion!"

"No!"

"Yes! Now I'll sacrifice my White Magician to Special Summon my Buster Blader from the Graveyard! I switch my Gemini Elf and Getsu Fuhma to attack mode, as well as summoning Familiar-Possessed – Hiita! (Fire/Spellcaster/Effect, 1850/1500)"

"Hang on a moment… _how many monsters did he just play in one turn?_" Keith asked.

"Let's see… Dark Paladin, Dark Magician, DM Knight, Buster Blader, and FP Hiita. So he just summoned 5 monsters in one turn… wow. This kid is good." Said Flynn.

"Dark Paladin! Cut down his Gigantes!"

Evil-looking Professor- 3500 

**Drake- 3600**

"Now, Buster Blader, cut down Neo Bug!"

Evil-looking Professor: 2700 

**Drake: 3600**

"Dark Magician Knight, destroy his Sabersaurus!"

Evil-looking Professor: 2600 

**Drake: 3600**

"Now, Getsu Fuhma and Hiita! FINISH HIM!"

Evil- looking Professor: 0 

**Drake: 3600**

Cheers erupted from the crowd as the professor's life points hit zero. Drake smiled, then walked off the field.

"Wait!" said the professor from behind him. His face had softened from the evil look it had worn earlier.

"What? I already beat you."

"No, it's nothing like that. I just wanted to congratulate you." The professor walked up to him. "It's been nearly six years since I lost a duel. I am… impressed beyond belief. Congratulations on making Duel Academy. I'm the leading teacher there… Professor Bentz. I look forward to watching you become even better."

"Nice to meet you, Prof." Said Drake. They shook hands briefly and Drake walked up the stairs.

"Nice one, Drake." Said Keith. "That was impressive."

"I agree." Said Flynn. "Summoning five monsters in one turn… very good. And under that much pressure, too, against the best professor in the academy!"

"Thanks, guys."

The P.A. blared to life. "That concl- huh?" The P.A. didn't turn off, and the students could hear some barely intelligible chatter in the background. "What? Who's here late? _Him?_ He didn't sign up! Oh, never mind!" The voice came back on the speaker at full volume. "Excuse me, that does not end the duels. There is one more for those who would like to watch."


	5. HIM

Chapter 5- Him

"Who do you think it is?" asked Drake.

"How would I know? All they did was call him '_him._'" Said Flynn.

"Think we should watch?" Keith asked.

"Of course! Since he will be coming to duel academy, it would be a good idea to watch him duel so we know his deck! That way, when we have to duel him, we'll know his weaknesses!" said Flynn.

"I was just going to suggest that it's fun to watch people duel, but Flynn's reason works, too." Said Drake. They all walked over to the fourth duel arena. The student was already standing in it. He was also drawing a good deal of strange looks.

"That is one of the weirdest-looking kids I have ever seen." Keith said. He was probably right. Even though the baggy, very worn-looking blue jeans and a little too large T-shirt were pretty normal looking, his face threw it all off. He wore a baseball cap, but it was cocked at a funny angle so that it was partially over his left eye. His hair was messy, but it too seemed drawn over his left eye. To top it off, he wore a long, white bandage that was wrapped several times around his head and completely covered (_What else? _Drake thought vaguely) his left eye. All of his hair stuck out over the bandage, and his right eye looked a little strange. The pupil seemed to be flecked with gray.

"I wonder why he wears that bandage?" Flynn asked. "Did he just have surgery on his eye or something? How does he duel like that?"

"No clue. But the duel's about to start." Drake said. "No way!"

"What?"

"That's the world champion…" And so it was. The current world champion, the one who had taken over after Yugi Motou and Seto Kaiba had left the pro circuit, was walking out of the hallway that the proctors normally came out of. He was smirking.

"Why would they call me here to duel some oddball?" he said. "This guy looks like he would have a hard time stringing two cards together into a coherent combo!" The entrant's one eye fixed the champion (his name was Rhett) with an absolutely chilling stare.

"Nothing is as it seems." He said in a voice that could have been made of ice. "You ready?"

"Always. I didn't become world champ without being always ready!"

"Let's duel!" they both said.

Mystery Student: 4000 

**Rhett: 4000**

"I'll go first." Said the mysterious new student. He drew a card and smiled. "I place one card face-down, and summon Mpirian Soldier (Light/Warrior, 1600/800) in defense mode! That's it."

"He summoned a what?" Keith asked.

"Beats me. I've never seen that card before in my life." Said Flynn.

"Neither have I." Said Drake.

"Ha!" laughed Rhett as he drew his card. "I play Pot of Greed in order to draw two card, then play Graceful Charity! Draw three, discard two! Then I play Spell Reproduction! I discard two more cards to return a spell card to my hand! Graceful Charity, which I shall activate again! Draw three more, discard two more!"

"This guy's shuffling through his deck faster than a casino dealer on poker night!" said Drake. "What's he planning?"

"I'm not sure I want to know." Said Flynn. "He has put an equal number of light and dark monsters in his graveyard…"

"I remove a three light, and three dark attribute monsters to summon Chaos Emperor Dragon- Envoy of the End (Dark/Dragon/Effect, 3000/2500), Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning(Light/Warrior/Effect, 3000/2500), and Chaos Sorcerer(Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2300/2000)! Then I activate Dimension Fusion! I pay 2000 life points to bring back as many monsters from our out of play areas as possible!"

Mystery Student: 4000 

**Rhett: 2000**

"I bring back Despair from the Dark (Dark/Zombie/Effect, 2800/3000) and my Blue-Eyes White Dragon (Light/Dragon, 3000/2500)!"

"Now I see how this guy became World Champion!" said Drake. "Look at all the crap he just summoned!"

"Yes. He just summoned five of the most deadly monsters in Duel Monsters history- all in one turn. I think it's over for our little friend down there." Said Flynn, indicating the mystery student, who actually looked completely unfazed.

"Is that your best?" he asked disdainfully.

"No! That comes when I attack you! Chaos Sorcerer! Eliminate his puny weakling of a monster!" The Sorcerer blew the soldier to pieces. "Now! All of you! Finish this!"

"Not quite! I activate the trap card Hallowed Life Barrier! Now I take no damage from you at the cost of discarding one card." A large blue barrier appeared in front of the weird kid and blocked all of the attacks.

"Wait… why didn't he play that before the Sorcerer attacked? Wouldn't that have saved his monster?" asked Keith.

"It would have… I'm at a lose." Said Flynn. "Either he's really bad or he was just distracted."

"I heard that." Said the student, turning to face Flynn. "Your name is Flynn, right? Well, Flynn, watch this." He drew his card. A very evil smile crossed his face. "I activate… MPIRIAN POWER FUSION!"

"You activate WHAT?!?" said Rhett.

"Mpirian Power Fusion! A mighty card, indeed!" said the mystery student. "Here's how it works. In order to activate this card, I must have no other cards on my side of the field. And, as you can probably see, I have no other cards."

"So that's why! He wanted to clean out his field to play that card!" said Drake.

"Yes, but can it win him the game?" asked Flynn. "Granted, he might take down one of Rhett's monsters, but then either Chaos Sorcerer or BLS- Envoy will remove the monster with its special effect if he doesn't win this turn!"

"Mpirian Power Fusion grants me the ability to instantly fuse a Ritual Mpire Monster in my hand to an Mpire Fusion Monster in my Fusion deck. First, I pay half of my life points."

Mystery Student: 2000 

**Rhett: 2000**

"Then, I select a fusion monster in my fusion deck to summon. But! I must have the Ritual monster, and its ritual spell card, in my hand. And I have a very special Ritual Monster in store. Thorgricarian King Lv. 16! But he's summoned from Thorgricarian Lv. 12, so I must have him as well. Thankfully, I do!" He showed three cards: a ritual spell and the two ritual monsters. "Then, I'll need a fusion monster from my fusion deck. I think I'll take High King Matt, the Legendary Wizard (Secret Unveiled) and use him!" He pulled the said fusion monster from his pocket. "Now! I am allowed to fuse them to create the most powerful monster to ever grace the duel fields!"

"Wait… what were all those cards? I've never heard of any of them!" said Keith.

"How the heck is that? I haven't either." Said Flynn.

"Neither have I!" said Drake. "And trust me, I've seen a lot of cards!"

"I power fuse Thorgricarian King Lv. 16 and High King Matt the Legendary Wizard in order to form the deadly duo of Matt and Thorgy (Light/Warrior/Fusion/Effect, 12600/12000)!" A massive, six-headed, twelve-winged, six tailed, twelve footed dragon type creature with a man bearing a striking resemblance to the mystery student standing on top of one of its heads appeared behind the mystery student.

"Holy crap!" said Flynn.

"That's a lot of attack points!" said Drake.

"And now to see them in action! Matt and Thorgy! Obliterate his Chaos Dragon and end the duel!"

Mystery Student: 2000 

**Rhett: 0**

A stunned silence followed the end of the duel. Small pockets of murmuring broke out.

"Did he just trample the world champ?"

"No way…"

"Where did he get a card with that much power?"

"Where did he get any of those cards?"

"Yeah, I've never heard of most of them."

"I think almost no one has."

The mystery student put his deck back together in an instant, put it in his duel disk, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked up the stairs leading to the upper level. As he walked, the other entrants parted in front of him, giving him plenty of room. All wore a mixed look of fear and respect. The P.A. came on again.

"With that duel, we have concluded the dueling practical for today. Please line up at the table in the front to receive your ranking." For a while no one moved, then, slowly at first, they began to go outside to the table to get placed in the ranking system.

"How do they rank us again?" said Keith. Though he was older than both Drake and Flynn, he seemed to always be a little less knowledgeable than either.

"We have a similar system to the Academy near Japan." Said Flynn. "Our Academy is situated on a new island in the Pacific, south of Hawaii, I think. They'll separate us into a set of four dorms: one for the weakest students, one for the students who duel great but have lousy grades, one for the ones with great grades but who duel poorly, and one for the best students overall."

"How'd you do on the exam?" Drake asked.

"I got a 93. You?"

"I scraped by with a 70…"

"I beat both of you! I got a 97." Keith said.

"No way!" said Flynn. "Prove it." Keith pulled an official-looking sheet of paper out of his pocket. Sure enough, the number "97" was typed in red inside of a box in the corner. "Wow. Not bad." They had made it to the end of the line. It took nearly half an hour for them to make it to the front of the line.

"Name, please?" said a bored-looking woman behind the table.

"Drake Stizen."

"You will be in… the Red dorm. Your duel scores were high, but your test score was lacking. Here." She handed him a red jacket. "The ship will leave in one hour from the south port. Be prepared. If you are not on when the ship leaves, you will not get another chance to enter the school again this year. Next, please."

"Keith Natran."

"You will be in… the Black dorm. Your test score was great, but your duel score was… lacking." She handed him a black jacket. "The ship will leave in one hour-"

"Yes, I heard."

"Oh. Next."

"Flynn Tager."

"You will be in the Gold dorm. Good test score, and great duel." She handed him a gold jacket. "The ship will-"

"Yes, I know."

"Oh. Next." They all donned their jackets and walked away.

"Wait." Said Flynn. They were walking past the weird kid with the bandage, who was leaning up against the rec. center wall, wearing a gold jacket.

"Oh, please, that guy creeps me out more than you do, let's not talk to him-" said Drake, but Flynn was already walking over to him. Keith looked at Drake. Drake looked back.

"This can't be good." Said Keith. Flynn sat down next to the strange kid. Drake and Keith followed reluctantly.

"Hello." Said Flynn. The strange kid gave Flynn a hard, cold stare, so cold and hard it caused him to shudder, which, Drake thought, probably took a lot.

"What?" said the kid.

"I-I j-just wanted to say hi. You look lonely." Flynn stuttered. The kid's face softened.

"You're that Flynn, aren't you?" he said.

"Yes sir." Drake didn't know why Flynn had called him sir at first, but then he realized that the kid carried a sort of respect-generating aura about him. Despite his odd appearance, Drake felt that this was not someone who could be disrespected without serious repercussions.

"You're a very good duelist. I was watching."

"Thank you. Where'd you get all those cards? I've never seen a lot of them."

"This is a completely unique deck. Outside of it, there are almost no other copies of the cards it contains. Well, expect that Hallowed Life Barrier. But that card will soon be out of this deck, once I get that other card."

"Where did you get them from, though?"

The kid smiled a mysterious smile. "I might tell you later. In the meantime, why don't you introduce me to your friends?"

"Uh, sure. This is Drake, and that is Keith. And, come to think of it, we don't know your name."

"I'm Matt. It was nice meeting you all. I believe that we will meet again. I also believe that each and every one of you have great potential in the world of Duel Monsters. Whatever happens from here on out, all through Duel Academy, never, ever forget your reasons for dueling. They will sustain you through the hard times…" With that cryptic piece of advice, he stood on the spot, and walked off. Flynn stood up as he left.

"I have a strange feeling about that guy…" he said.

"Yeah. So do I. He freaks me out more than you do." Said Keith.

"No… it's not that. He does freak me out-"

"That probably takes a lot." Drake interjected.

Flynn ignored him. "I feel like he knows something. Even though he's half blind, I feel like he sees better than any of us."

"What do you mean by that?" Keith asked.

"No clue… maybe he can see the future. I can think of no other reason for him to give us such an unrelated piece of advice." Flynn said.

"Yeah, it was kind of random. I wonder why he has his left eye all covered up?" Drake asked.

"I should make it a point to find out."

"Don't you think he won't like that?" Keith asked.

"Maybe I should get someone else to do it, then. But I'm curious, so I'll probably find out soon enough."

Just then, the dock's announcement speaker blared to life. "All new Duel Academy students, the ship will be leaving in five minutes. Please embark immediately."

Flynn looked at Drake, who looked at Keith, who looked at Flynn. Then they all looked the other way around, Drake looking at Flynn, etc.

"Shall we?" Flynn asked.

"Sure. Let's go play." Said Keith.

"On to Duel Academy!" said Drake.


	6. A Rival Appears! The Master of Machines

Chapter 6- A Rival Appears! The Master of Machines

As Drake was boarding the ship, another student pushed past him and nearly knocked him over.

"Hehe, whoops!" he said, smiling in a way Drake didn't like. "Sorry 'bout that." The student turned and continued up the ramp.

"Who was that?" Keith said, walking up behind him.

"No clue." Drake put his hands into his pockets. "Hey! Where'd my deck go?"

"He stole it, no doubt." Flynn said. "Can't you spot a pickpocket when you see one?"

"Apparently not. It happened pretty quickly, so I didn't have much time to react!"

"Well, it's not like he's going anywhere anytime soon." Flynn admitted. "At least, as soon as the boat leaves he isn't. We can catch him easily, it's a real long trip to Duel Academy Island." They finished the trip up the ramp and walked down the side of the boat. There were a lot of people on the back deck. Completely noticeable in the middle was Matt. There was a large circle of people around him, staring at him. He was holding the kid who had stolen Drake's deck by the collar, despite the fact that the other kid was much larger than he was. The kid that was being held up was struggling fantastically, Drake wondered how Matt could make it look so easy. As they came around the corner, Matt looked over at them.

"Oh, hello, Drake." He reached into the kid's pocket with one hand. He pulled out Drake's deck. "I believe that this is yours." He held the deck out towards Drake.

"Wow, thanks Matt." Drake said, and took his deck back. Matt released his grip and the kid crashed to the floor. Then he turned and walked off the deck. The kid remained laying on the deck. Flynn walked over and kicked him.

"Hey!" said the pickpocket. "Don't disrespect the great William Maquine!"

"I'm not. I'm disrespecting the disrespectful and despicable pickpocket William Maquine." Flynn said. William jumped up.

"Are you challenging me?" he roared. Admittedly, William was considerably wider and taller than Flynn, who was of average height and average build, but Flynn didn't budge.

"I might be." He said. "But I am not the one among us who has the most reason to challenge you."

"Huh?" said William, obviously confused by the complicated string of words. Drake stepped up.

"You stole my deck! Why?" Drake said. William turned to face Drake.

"Because I hate you! When you won state, you got to the finals by stepping on my younger brother! You accused him of cheating and got him kicked out of the tournament! Therefore, you are my sworn enemy! I was trying to get you kicked out of Duel Academy, since if you don't have a deck you can't come in!"

"Huh?" said Drake. "Oh, THAT Ted Maquine. Well, he kind of rigged his deck and attempted to remove cards from mine. I think that qualifies as cheating."

"He did not! So, I think I'll take my revenge on you. Let's duel!" William said.

"If you want." Drake said, and re-inserted his deck into the slot in his duel disk. William did the same.

"Duel!" they both said.

William: 4000 Drake: 4000 

"Don't think you can take me down as easy as the loser Professor I saw you duel!" William said as he drew his first card. "I'll go first… and place Robotic Knight (Fire/Machine, 1600/1800) in defense mode. I'll add a face-down and end my turn."

"Fine!" Drake drew his card. "I summon my Gemini Elf (Earth/Spellcaster, 1900/900) in attack mode! Attack Robotic Knight!" Gemini Elf destroyed the Knight. "I'll also play a face-down and end my turn."

"I draw…" said William, and did so. "I activate my face-down card, Call of the Haunted! I'll bring back my Knight, then sacrifice it to summon Cyber-Tech Alligator (Wind/Machine, 2500/1600)! Obliterate the Elf!"

William: 4000 

**Drake: 3400**

"I'm done."

"Okay…draw…" Drake drew a card. "Hmm. Guess I'll just place a monster in face-down defense mode and end my turn."

"Ha! You fool! I knew you couldn't beat me." He drew a card. "I equip my Alligator with Machine Conversion Factory! This gives it 300 extra attack and defense points!"

"That's not good." Said Keith. "That gives it 2800!"

"Now, Cyber-Tech Alligator, attack and destroy the face-down monster!" The Alligator attacked Drake's face-down monster- Mystical Elf. "Your turn."

Drake drew his card. A smile tugged at his lips. "One monster in defense mode, and that's it."

"Oh, you think that a little smile will stop me?" William said. He drew his card. "I summon Mechanicalchaser (Dark/Machine, 1850/800) in attack mode! Then, I'll have my Cyber-Tech Alligator attack your monster and kill it!"

"Ha! You fool! You attacked… D.D. Assailant!" Drake said. "When he's attacked, I can choose to remove both him and the monster that attacked him from the game! Cyber-Tech Gator is gone!" Both the Gator and Assailant were absorbed into a sort of blue portal.

"Grrr… in any case, Mechanicalchaser will attack you directly!"

William: 4000 

**Drake: 1550**

"I'm done, and next turn you will be, too… permanently!"

"My turn, then!" Drake drew another card. "YES! That's it! I activate BLACK LUSTER RITUAL!!!"

"NO!!!!!" bellowed William, his eyes popping. "This can't be! I'm the Master of Machines! I can't lose!"

"Well, you haven't yet, but this guy's appearance will certainly lower your odds for survival! On second thought, hold that thought." Drake said. "I will send my Dark Magician Girl and my Familiar-Possessed- Eria to the graveyard and summon BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER (Earth/Warrior/Ritual, 3000/2500)!!!"

"YES!" said Keith. "That should give him the game!"

William began to laugh. "No it won't!" He showed one of the cards in his hand. "This is called Tribute to the Doomed! In one turn, I'll destroy that soldier and beat you down!"

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'll win this turn." Drake said. I activate… MONSTER REBORN!!! I'll use it to bring back my Dark Magician Girl (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2000/1700)!"

"You must have failed all your math classes! You still can't beat me in one turn!"

"You forget my face-down."

"Uh…"

"I activate the Sage's Stone! When I have Dark Magician Girl on the field, I can use it to Special Summon Dark Magician from my deck! So here he is, Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100) in attack mode!" There was a roar of cheers at the appearance of perhaps the most popular of all Duel Monster cards. "Now, BLS, attack the Chaser!"

William: 2850 

**Drake: ** **1550**

"Now! Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl! Double Dark Magic Attack!"

William: 0 

**Drake: 1550**

"And that's the game." Said Drake, as William fell to his knees in shock.

"That was awesome Drake!" Keith said. "I swear, I will never get tired of watching you duel!"

"Not bad, Drake. We might make a champ out of you yet." Flynn said.

"You act as if you're not interested in a championship!" Drake said.

"Not the one you're going for." Flynn admitted. "I'm a bit more interested in tag duels. I came to Duel Academy primarily to find a decent partner. If you weren't going for singles, I'd take you on immediately!"

"Thanks, Flynn."

"I'll get you one day." William hissed from behind them. They turned and looked at him. He was still hunched over on his knees, looking very defeated.

"Dude, it's over. I beat you. Give it up." Drake said.

"Never." William got up and walked away, making sure to run into Drake as hard as possible.

"I think he's going to be a pain in the ass for a good deal of our careers at Duel Academy." Drake said.

"I would agree with you there." Flynn said. "Let's go somewhere else. People are beginning to stare."

"Right." Said Drake.

"Awww…" said Keith, who seemed to be enjoying the attention. He followed them anyway. They went to the front deck. No one was there. On the horizon they could see a large black shape.

"That must be Duel Academy!" said Drake.

"It would seem to be." Said Flynn. "Let's get ready to get off. I want to get as far away from that William as possible. He pisses me off."

"Are you guys going to be griping about him all night?!?" Keith asked. "Jeez! Give it a rest."

"Well, he did try to get me kicked out of Duel Academy, and then was a jerk to me during an honorable duel." Drake said.

"Whatever." The black shape of Duel Academy loomed closer. They could now see the main building, a towering monolith of steel and concrete. Several considerably shorter arches surrounded it. The arches were a curious fusion of old and new, many seemed to have broken near the top, but these holes had been filled up with concrete. A vast forest surrounded the backside of the academy. Drake thought he saw a trail of smoke coming out of the trees to the east of the school, but it was quickly stopped.

"Did you see that? That smoke trail?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did. Does someone live back there?" Flynn asked.

"I didn't see it." Keith said. "I'm pretty sure, though, that no one lives on that island but the academy students."

"That might not be…" Drake said. He opened his mouth to elaborate on some theory, but the ship's P.A. system cut him off.

"We are approaching Duel Academy. Please prepare to disembark." It said. They looked at each other.

"Let's go." Flynn said after a long silence.

"Yeah. We can ask about other inhabitants later." Drake said.

"If they exist." Keith added. The ship stopped at the dock and they got off, ready to take anything that the school might throw at them.

"Welcome to Duel Academy." Said a large man in a black suit who was standing at the gates. The gates opened with an ominous creaking and they walked through.


	7. The Year Begins!

Chapter 7- The Year Begins!

The next day Drake woke up just as the sun came up over the horizon. He had been placed in a fairly large square room, measuring about twenty feet in each direction. There was a cabinet in the corner, a small shower stall, a good desk, and a pretty nice bed. Drake wondered how good the other rooms were. He threw on some jeans and his jacket, grabbed his deck and duel disk, and left his room. He found Keith hanging around the entrance to the main building.

"Hey, Drake. What's up?" he said.

"Not much. Get a good night's sleep?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, I got a pretty nice bed. Pretty good room, too. Where's Flynn, do you think? I haven't seen him yet."

"Neither have I. Bet you that he has a better room than either of us. Do you have to share yours?"

"No. Good thing, too. I don't think I'd like to share a room with someone else. At least not here. Besides, I would probably end up making friends with him and adding to our little group. That might not be such a good thing."

"With Flynn hanging around all the time and Matt appearing at random and giving us cryptic, creepy hints? Yeah, I see your point."

"Hey, isn't that Flynn?" Keith pointed past Drake. Drake looked in the direction Keith was pointing, but all he could see was a huge mass of female students.

"I don't see-" He stopped when the girls parted a little, allowing him to see Flynn standing in the middle. The girls appeared to be very attracted to him. "Ah, now I see him. Here he comes." The mass had begun moving in their direction.

"Hello." Flynn said, appearing to be completely unbothered by the large contingent of girls surrounding him. "As you can see, I've picked up quite a female fan club."

" 'Quite a female fan club?' Isn't that an understatment?" Keith asked.

"I would say so. They saw me yesterday and only left me when I locked the door to my room last night." He looked around. "Go away." He said to all the girls surrounding him. "I don't like any of you."

"He's so hot…" most of them said in unison.

"GO AWAY!" Flynn yelled, getting angry for the first time since Drake had known him. The girls did nothing but stare at him, even more attracted.

"He's even hotter angry…" they all said, again in unison.

"HEY! STUPID FEMALES! STOP BLOCKNIG THE DOOR WITH YOU FAT ASSES!" came a loud voice. Instantly the girls ran away. Drake could now see who had shouted. It was Matt. "Hello." He said as he walked past.

"That guy is weird." Drake said. "How'd he get those girls to go away?"

"I don't know." Keith said. "I saw him a bit last night. He seems able to command nearly anyone to do anything."

"That's not the half of it." Flynn said. "I dared someone to go into his room while he was sleeping and lift up those bandages to see what's underneath."

"Did he tell you?" Drake asked, very eager to find out more about this enigma.

"He didn't tell anyone. He's dead."

"_What?_"

"Yeah. Died. Just like that. I watched him enter the room and heard him pull the bandages off. Then I saw him fly out of the room, hit the opposite wall, and slide down. He was dead before he hit the wall. The academy is having a job keeping this quiet."

"I would imagine." Keith said. "Now, instead of learning more about this guy, we find out we know less about him than we think."

"Yeah. What could be under there that can kill that easily?" Drake asked.

"We'll have to find out later. Class is about to start." Flynn said. They opened the doors and set off to class.

---------------------

After class they had lunch. Each was to return to his own dorm for every meal, so they agreed to meet up before the afternoon class for some fun. As they left the room, they noticed a large circle of students up ahead. As they got closer, they noticed that it was Matt who stood in the middle. The students on the outside seemed to be heckling him. Matt just stood there.

"What's going on?" Drake asked one of the students near the outside of the circle.

"We're just giving that freak what he had coming to him!" one of them said. "We know he killed that other guy, so after this, we're going to take him out back and beat him up!"

"Really?" Matt said, staring directly at the student that Drake had been speaking to. "And since when did you think I was going to let you do something like that?"

"I-I-I… uh, w-w-we… that is, er…" the student stuttered. Matt's eyes focused. Drake felt a wave of…something fly past. All of the students who had been making fun of him had been sent flying backwards up against the wall. Matt still stood there in exactly the same pose he had had before this occurrence. Drake looked at him in utter disbelief. Then Matt turned and walked away as if nothing had happened. Flynn grabbed Drake by the arm.

"We should get out of here." Flynn whispered in his ear.

"Right." Drake muttered back. They walked around the piles of moaning bodies and left the school's main building. For a while they walked in silence. Then Drake spoke up.

"You know when Matt blasted all those other guys?" he asked.

"How could we not notice?" Keith said.

"Well, afterwards, I got a good look at his face. The iris of his eye, the one you can see, it was purple. Is that normal?"

"No." Flynn said. "When I spoke to him on the docks, his eye was a sort of turquoise, somewhere between green and blue. This guy just keeps getting weirder."

---------------------

After the incident described above, no one bothered Matt again. Indeed, Flynn said that in the gold cafeteria, the dorm Matt roomed in, everyone tried their best to be as far away from him as possible. Everywhere he went he was surrounded by a large circle of empty space. Drake thought that it must be lonely.

"Actually, he really doesn't care." Flynn said.

"How do you know?" Keith asked.

"I sit by him during meals."

"Is that why all the girls started leaving you alone?" Drake asked. "Because they associate you with him?"

"Actually, no. He yelled at them again. Said they obstructed everything everywhere they went and told them to stop following me. And they stopped. I needn't say that I am very glad about this development." This took place a few weeks into the school year.

"Hey, what's that?" said Drake, pulling a sheet of paper off the wall. "5-on-5 with the other Academy! Four spots available. Apply at the chancellor's office at 8 o'clock on Monday night." He scratched his head. "5-on-5 but only four spots open? Who already got one?"

"The best duelist in the school, probably." Flynn said.

"Who do you think is the best duelist here?" Keith asked.

"Matt, hands down. That leaves three of us… hm, guess we won't take up the last spots. Wonder who the third will be…" Flynn scratched his head. "Guess we'll just have to apply tonight."

That night they all signed up to go up against the best of Duel Academy. As far as they could see, no one else had applied.

"Maybe they're scared of the Duel Academy students." Drake commented, crushing his now-empty pop can. "Still, that makes it harder on us."

"Yeah, now we all have to win." Flynn said.

"Easy enough." Keith said. "I jacked up my deck recently. I'll thrash whoever they put in against me."


	8. The Duel Academies Face off!

Chapter 8- The Duel Academy Face Off!

At the beginning of the next day all three of them were summoned to the airstrip outside the back of the academy. They would be leaving immediately.

"These guys don't waste time." Keith said. They noticed Matt already relaxing in the plane. They followed suit and began to climb the stairs, but were called back by the Chancellor. His name was Chancellor Jacobs.

"So, you are my three prodigies." He said.

"I suppose you could say that." Flynn said. "Is this all?"

"No, there's one more student coming. As you can see, our resident top duelist-" Here he shuddered. Drake wondered why everyone seemed so creeped out by Matt, but the he remembered the two incidents from the last chapter and stopped wondering. "-is already aboard. Now, you will all be fighting single duels, it won't actually be 5-on-5. That would be…chaotic. Would you like to know who you are facing?"

"Sure." Drake said.

"Let's see…" Chancellor Jacobs pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket. "Flynn Tager versus Chazz Princeton, Drake Stizen versus Jaden Yuki, and Keith Natran versus Bastian Misawa. Matt Peterson will be dueling Zane Trusdale-"

"ZANE TRUSDALE?!?" Drake blurted out. "So that's their top duelist…"

"You know him?" Keith asked.

"Not personally, no, but I've heard stories. And none of them sound good for our pal Matt. I wonder, can he take Zane?"

"Well, he took Rhett, so I guess he should be able to take down Zane." Flynn said.

"I've heard that Zane is even better." Drake asserted. "Who's the other duelist?"

"Let's see… her name is Julie Daran. She will be dueling Alexis Rhodes." Jacobs said. "I expect to see good duels out of everyone."

"And you will!" Keith said. They all boarded the plane without further ado.

Julie was late. They had almost begun to take off to avoid being late when she came running out of the trees, calling out for them to wait. She was wearing a green jacket.

_Great,_ Drake thought. _One of the lowest ranking duelists in the school. And she's late. _Fortunately, the plane was able to stop and let her on before departing.

"You're late." Flynn informed her coldly.

"I know, I'm sorry. I seem to be late a lot. I got up late and missed class, then woke up and remembered I had to come here. So I ran. I'm lucky I got it here just in time." She said. Flynn stared at her until she began to fidget under his icy gaze. Then he returned to his window and left her to herself.

The flight took nearly three hours. Drake was wishing he had brought something to do besides thumb through his deck, wondering if it would be good enough to win the game for him. When they landed there was an entire crowd of other duelists waiting for them. At the front of the group was a rather stocky man wearing a red coat. Though he was surrounded by a huge crowd, the five students closest to him stood out- undoubtedly the five that they would soon duel.

"Welcome, my friend Jacobs!" the large man said. He had the very deep voice characteristic of men his size. He turned to Drake and the others. "Hello, I would guess that you are the five duelists my top five will be dueling. I'm Chancellor Shepherd!" He smiled widely without opening his mouth while closing his eyes. "I hope to see some good duels!"

"Pah. If whoever you pit me against can stand up to me, you might." Matt said.

"Heh! You freak, you couldn't take anyone here." Said one of the students. His hair was a lighter shade of black and it came over in a wave of spikes. Unlike his compatriots, who all wore red, yellow, or blue blazers, he wore what looked like a black overcoat. Matt looked hard at him. The student was instantly struck with an incredible panic. He began to sweat profusely and shake uncontrollably. Then, without warning, he flew off his feet and crashed down.

"Call me a freak again, and I will make your life very unpleasant." Matt said. The student struggled to his feet and muttered something Drake, who was standing closest to him, couldn't understand. "And I heard that, you moron."

Chancellor Shepherd gave Chancellor Jacobs a _why-do-you-put-up-with-this-guy_ look. Jacobs shrugged. "So, would like to know who you are dueling?" Shepherd asked.

"Yeah!" Drake said.

"Well…" Shepherd took the paper Jacobs handed to him. "Which one of you is Flynn Tager?" Flynn moved forward. "You will be dueling Chazz Princeton." He indicated the student Matt had mysteriously sent flying. Flynn looked at Chazz with such loathing that Chazz shuddered. Maybe it was what he had just experienced, though. "Who is Keith Natran?" Keith raised his hand. "You will be dueling Bastian Misawa." A very proper-looking student in a yellow blazer stepped forward. He had an air of intelligence about him, and his hair was semi-slicked back into a set of spikes. "Now, who is this Drake Stizen?" Drake bounced up and down a little, then raised his hand. "You will be dueling Jaden Yuki." He gestured towards a student with extremely messy brown hair that changed shades halfway down his forehead. He was smiling and greeted Drake enthusiastically. "Who is Julie Daran?" Julie stepped forward. "You will duel Alexis Rhodes." A (very good-looking, Drake thought) female student stepped out. She seemed to have an aura of likability around her, but Drake thought that appearances could be deceiving. "So you must be Matt Peterson." Shepherd looked at Matt and shuddered. "You will be dueling Zane Trusdale. I hope you are up to the challenge- he has not lost a single match." Shepherd indicated the tallest of the bunch. His deep blue hair hung down in spikes around his face, but he did not look like some kind of punk fool- in fact, Drake thought, he looked rather ominous.

"I have no doubts that I will be." Matt said. "Now, are we dueling today or later?   
I don't intend to stand here all day."

"What do you think, Jacobs?" Shepherd turned to Jacobs.

"Oh, why not, let's start right now. That way, we can do these duels and get back to school without being gone for too long." Jacobs said.

"Very well, let's go then!" With that, they all began to walk up towards the duel arena, a large crowd of other duelists in their wake.


	9. The Duels Begin! Chazz vs Flynn

Chapter 9- The Duels Begin!- Chazz vs. Flynn

"So who should we have duel first?" Shepherd asked when they arrived at the duel arena.

"Let's save our top duelists for last." Jacobs suggested. "But let's go with second bests from there. My second best is Mr. Flynn Tager."

"So let's have him and Chazz Princeton duel, then!" Shepherd said.

"Very well." Flynn said, and shoved his deck into the slot in his duel disk. He looked daggers at Chazz. It was clear that he didn't like him at all.

"Heh, I won't even break a sweat here." Chazz said as they took their places.

"I doubt that. You look like the kind of person who would sweat very easily." Flynn said.

"Let's duel!"

Chazz: 4000 Flynn: 4000 

"I'll go first!" said Chazz. "I play my Graceful Charity spell card! With it, I-"

"I was chosen as one of the best duelists from my school, I think I know what it does." Flynn said, almost mockingly. All the students from the "other" academy started laughing.

"Um, okay…" said Chazz, as he drew three cards and discarded two. "Oh, and I think I'll toss my Ojamagic spell card and Frontline Base spell card, so I'll move the three Ojamas to my hand with Ojamagic. Then, I'll play Polymerization to fuse all the Ojamas to form Ojama King! (Light/Beast/Fusion/Effect, 0/3000). I'll prevent you from using two of your monster card zones and set a card face down. That's all."

"Fine. I draw-"

"And I play Ojama Trio! Now the rest of your monster card zones are blocked by Ojama tokens!"

"Oh well. Guess I'll just set a card face-down and end my turn."

"Wow, that sucks. First turn and all his monster card zones are blocked." Drake said.

"Heh. I told you he was no match for me." Chazz said. "Now, I'll summon X-Head Cannon (Light/Machine, 1800/1000) in Attack Mode. Then, I play Ojamuscle! Now, all those Ojama Tokens are destroyed, and my Ojama King gains 1000 attack points for each one, giving him 3000! And because those were Ojama Tokens-"

"I take three hundred for each one that was destroyed. I know." Flynn said.

Chazz: 4000 Flynn: 3100 

"And now that you're wide open, X-head Cannon will attack directly!"

Chazz: 4000 

**Flynn: 1300**

"And Ojama King will finish you off!"

"Not quite! I activate my Draining Shield Trap Card. Now, King's Attack is negated and I gain life points equal to his attack points."

Chazz: 4000 

**Flynn: 4300**

"Grr… I'm done." Chazz said.

"So Flynn survives what should have been death!" Keith said.

"And not only that." Matt said. "Now that those Oja tokens are gone, he has monster zones open, so he can play monsters again. That is the critical part of it. If Chazz had almost defeated but maintained that Ojama Lock, then it would have been very difficult to mount any kind of resistance for another turn. Now, he can summon some kind of monster."

"And now…" Said Flynn. "It's my turn. So, I'll draw… then set a monster in defense mode. The simple addition of a face-down card will end my turn."

"Alright then…" Chazz drew his card. "I summon my Y-Dragon Head (Light/Machine/Union, 1500/1600) in Attack mode! Then, I'll attack your monster with X-Head Cannon!"

"Negate Attack! Now you can't attack."

"I'll end my turn, then. But I assure you, your next turn will be your last." Chazz said.

"I doubt it." Flynn drew his card. "I'll place another monster face-down and set another card. That's all."

"Fine then. It won't hold you over, because I'm going to summon Z-Metal Tank! Then I'll remove X,Y, and Z to summon my XYZ-Dragon Cannon (Light/Machine/Fusion/Effect, 2800/2600) in attack mode!!! Now, I'll use Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face-down!"

"Ha! You fool! I activate it- JUDGEMENT OF ANUBIS! Since you tried to destroy my face-down, I can activate this card, which now negates and destroys the card you tried to use to destroy my face-downs. So Dragon Cannon is gone, and thanks to the side effect of Curse, I can destroy another monster on your side of the field and do damage to your life points equal to his attack points."

"But he had 3000!" Chazz said.

Chazz: 1000 

**Flynn: 4300**

"Yes, that is the beauty of it. Now, it is a simple matter to obliterate you on the next turn."

"That's what you think!" Chazz said. "On my turn, I'll set this card. On your turn, I'll use it to destroy whatever monster you summon!"

"Not quite." Flynn drew his card. "I activate Polymerization, and fuse my face-down Divine Dragon Ragnarok with my face-down Lord of Dragons to summon King Dragun (Dark/Dragon/Fusion, 2400/1200)! Now, whatever targeting card you were going to use is no good!"

"So? You can't take down my Dragon Cannon."

"Ah, but King Dragun's allows me to Special Summon one dragon from my hand per turn. So, I think I'll bring out a Blue-Eyes."

"Crap."

"Got that right. Now, Blue-Eyes, destroy the Cannon!"

Chazz: 800 Flynn: 4300 

"And King Dragun, destroy him!"

Chazz: 0 

**Flynn: 4300**

As Flynn ended the duel, there was a series of loud boos as Chazz walked off the duel field.

"Nice one Flynn." Drake said.

"As always." Keith said. "When he had you in that Oja Lock, I thought you had had it."

"He got too greedy with his King. That's what killed him." Flynn said.

Shepherd stepped up onto the raised dueling platform. "And with that, the first duel is over! And so the score is 1-0, in favor of the 'other' academy! The next duel will be… Julie Daran versus Alexis Rhodes!"


	10. A Duel between Women

Chapter 10- A Duel between (Wo)men

Julie walked onto the platform. She looked nervous but determined. Her opponent was already waiting. Drake thought he saw a fire in Alexis Rhodes that hadn't been there before.

"Are you both ready?" said Jacobs. They nodded. "Then you may begin!"

"Duel!" they both said.

Alexis: 4000 

**Julie: 4000**

"I'll go first!" said Julie, and drew a card. "I play Card Destruction! Now we must discard our entire hands, both of us." They both did so. "Now we draw cards equal to the number of cards that we discarded!" Julie refreshed her hand with five cards, as did Alexis. Suddenly, two monsters appeared on Julie's side of the field.

"Wait- how'd you get those?" asked Alexis, bewildered.

"Their special abilities! Meet Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) and Sillva, Warlord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400). And, another of the cards I discarded was Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, so I get another card." She drew another card.

"A _Dark World _deck?" said Drake. "Didn't see that one coming."

"Ah, but you must expect the unexpected." Matt said. "That is a key part of Duel Monsters."

"Good point."

"And now, I think I'll summon my Dark Blade (Dark/Warrior, 1800/1600) in attack mode, place a card face-down, and end my turn." Julie said.

"Here I go." Alexis drew a card. "I summon my Cyber Gymnast (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 800/1800) in defense mode. Now, I'll discard a card to destroy and Sillva!"

"Ouch, that sucks." Drake said.

"Now, I'll play Monster Reborn, and bring back Cyber Tutu (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 1000/800) in attack mode. Now, because all of your monsters are stronger than her, she gets to pull a pirouette on your face. Cyber Tutu, attack her directly!"

**Alexis: 4000**

Julie: 3000 

"I'll place a face-down card and end my turn."

"Okay. Not bad. I draw…" she checked the card. "And play Mystical Space Typhoon. Now I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field. So, I'll zap your face-down…" Alexis' face-down card, Doble Passe, was destroyed. "Now, since you have so little to defend yourself with, Dark Blade, destroy that Tutu!"

Alexis: 3200 

**Julie: 3000**

"Goldd, destroy the Gymnast! Now that that is done, I'm done as well."

"Fine!" Alexis drew a card. "First I activate Pot of Greed! Then I activate Polymerization! I'll use it to fuse Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater to form my Cyber Blader (Earth/Warrior/Fusion/Effect, 2100/800) in attack mode!"

"So? She's still weaker than my best, Goldd."

"Right now she is, but not after her effect kicks in and doubles her attack points to 4200!"

"Rats."

"Cyber Blader, destroy the Wu-Lord!"

Alexis: 3200 

**Julie: 1100**

"Now that he's gone, I'll set a card and end my turn."

"Yes, and now that he's gone, the attack boost goes away, too." Keith said.

"Yeah, doesn't Blader's effect change depending on the number of monsters on the opponent's side of the field?" Drake asked.

"Correct." Said Flynn. "Now that Goldd has left the field, Cyber Blader's effect changes, and her attack points drop down to 2100."

"My turn!" said Julie. "I draw, then sacrifice my Dark Blade for another Sillva! Sillva, destroy the Cyber Blader!"

Alexis: 3000 

**Julie: 1100**

"Your turn."

"I draw, and I should win with this!" said Alexis. "I activate Re-Fusion!"

"No!" said Flynn. "That brings back Blader… but to what avail?"

"Now I activate my face-down card, Fusion Weapon, which gives a level 6 or lower fusion monster an extra 1500 attack points, just enough to wipe you out! Cyber Blader, destroy Silva and end the duel!"

Alexis: 3000 

**Julie: 0**

Cheers erupted from the crowd as the hometown duelist won. Julie, looking depressed, walked off the stage. Matt confronted her at the bottom of the stairs.

"You did fine, Julie. You have nothing to be ashamed of." He said. She looked up into his uncovered eye, seemingly shocked that he was offering her such kind words.

"Uh… thank you, I guess." She said.

"And with that, the second duel is over!" said Shepherd from the stage. "And now the schools are all tied up again! The next duel will be Keith Natran vs. Bastian Misawa!"


	11. The Duels Continue! Keith vs Bastian

Chapter 11- The Duels Continue!- Keith vs. Bastain

"Go get him Keith." Flynn said.

"Right. Okay, I'm good." He said, and walked up the stairs to the stage.

"He'll be fine. He got the highest score on the entrance exam in the entire entering class!" Drake said.

"Actually, he didn't, but that doesn't make too much of a difference." Matt said. "I did."

"Really?" said Julie, who had followed him over. "What did you get?"

"A perfect 100." He said, as though such a score was worth all the contempt in the world. "I believe I remember that Keith got a 97. That's still pretty good. Though I must admit, his first duel wasn't particularly good. We'll just have to see."

"Are you ready to begin?" asked the one called Bastian.

"Always." Responded Keith.

"Let's duel!"

Bastian: 4000 

**Keith: 4000**

"I'll begin!" said Keith, and drew his card. "I set a monster in defense mode, and end my turn!"

"Very well, then." Bastian said. He drew. "I summon Oxygeddon (Wind/Dinosaur/Effect, 1800/800) in attack mode. I will also set one card face-down. Oxygeddon, destroy his face-down monster!"

"Thank you. That was my Big Eye! When he is flipped, I get to look at the top five cards of my deck and re-arrange them however I see fit." Keith pulled the top five cards from his deck and shuffled them around a bit. When he was finished re-arranging his cards, he put them back on top of his deck and waited. "Are you done?"

"Yes, I am."

"Fine, then! And my first card is…" Keith drew the card from his deck and instantly threw it onto his duel disk. "My Brain Control Spell Card! Now, by paying 800 life points…

Bastian: 4000 

**Keith: 3200**

"…I'm allowed to take control of one of your face-up monsters! Now, I'll sacrifice it to summon my Summoned Skull (Dark/Fiend, 2500/1200)! Now, Summoned Skull, Lightning Strike!"

Bastian: 1500 

**Keith: 3200**

"I'll set a card face-down and end my turn."

"Very well, then, it is my turn!" said Bastian. He drew a card.

"So far, so good." Matt said. "He's up, but can he turn his advantage into a win…?"

"Perhaps not!" Bastian said. "I play my Hydrogeddon (Water/Dinosaur/Effect, 1600/1000) in attack mode. Then, I'll activate Graceful Charity, to draw three cards and discard two. Then, I play Monster Reborn to bring back another Hydrogeddon. Then, I activate my face-down, Fossil Excavation! With it, I discard one card and Special Summon one Dinosaur-Type monster from my graveyard. Then, I activate Bonding H20. With it, I can combine my two Hydrogeddon and one Oxygeddon to special summon my Water Dragon (Water/Sea Serpent/Effect, 2800/2600) from my deck. Now, obliterate his Summoned Skull!"

Bastian: 1500 

**Keith: 2900**

"Your turn."

"Right. I draw…" Keith thought for a little while. "Then, I activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted! This will allow me to bring back my Summoned Skull in attack mode. Then, I'll activate my Dark Energy Spell Card, which gives him 300 extra attack and defense points. Now, Summoned Skull, destroy the Water Dragon!"

"Ha! Now that you've destroyed him, I get to Special Summon all of his components. So, I'll bring back two Hydrogeddon and Oxygeddon."

"I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"Very well, then. I'll just draw… and attack to end this duel."

"No! I play my Waboku Trap card, which will prevent all damage to my life points this turn."

"So you survive for one more turn. That's fine. I'll get you next turn."

"Right, I'll just draw then…" Keith drew his card, stared at his hand, and thought some more. "Hmm. Too many choices. I'll summon my La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1000) in attack mode, then use him to destroy your Hydrogeddon."

Bastian: 1300 

**Keith: 2900**

"Alright, I'm done."

"Very well, then. It is my turn." Bastian drew his card. He smiled. "I summon another Hydrogeddon. Then, I will activate another Bonding H2O. I'll combine my two Hydrogeddon and one Oxygeddon to form another Water Dragon!"

"Great. Just when you thought you were safe from the most plentiful compound on Earth…" said Drake.

"…it reforms to kick your ass." Flynn said.

"Now, Water Dragon, eliminate that Genie!" said Bastian.

Bastian: 1300 

**Keith 1900**

"Alright. Now he's back in that rough spot he was in a few minutes ago. Except this time, he doesn't have a trap set to bail him out." Matt said.

Keith drew a card. "Okay. What to do… what to do…"

"What he needs right now is something like D.D. Assailant, so he can remove the dragon and stop it from splitting up." Matt said. "Even if he plays a card that will destroy it, its components will come back to annoy him. Though that might be a risk he should take."

"I set one card face down. That will do."

"I hope it's a good one. For your sake." Bastian drew his card. "I set a card face down. Then, I attack you directly!"

"I block the attack with Kuriboh!"

"Oh, that little fuzzball. I suppose I will end my turn."

"I draw… then I will set a monster in defense mode and end my turn-"

"I activate my trap card, Dust Tornado, which will destroy your face-down card!"

"Crap."

"Now it's my turn. I activate my Nobleman of Crossout Spell Card! Now, your face down monster is removed and I have a clear shot at your life points. Now, Water Dragon, defeat him at last!"

Bastian: 1300 

**Keith: 0**

The crowd cheered again. Keith turned and walked down the stairs on the side of the duel arena.

"Damn." He said. "I thought I had him."

"Ah, don't worry too much. We're not out of it. We can still win this little game." Drake said.

"And with that, the third duel of the inter-Duel Academy meet is complete! The home team is up 2-1. Can the other Duel Academy pull out a come-from-behind win?" Shepherd said.


	12. The Comeback Begins?

Chapter 12- The Comeback Begins?

"And now, we have another exciting duel! This time, it is between Jaden Yuki and Drake Stizen!" Shepherd said. Drake walked up the stairs to face his opponent.

"So, you must be Drake!" he said. "Get your game on!"

"Uh, okay, sure." Drake said, not sure how to respond to the insane happiness that this kid seemed to be exuding.

"Let's duel!"

Jaden: 4000 

**Drake: 4000**

"I'll go first! Ha!" Jaden drew his card. "I summon my Elemental Hero Avian (Wind/Warrior, 1000/1000) in attack mode! That ends my turn."

"That's it? Kind of a lousy move." Drake drew his card. _This guy doesn't look like he should be a good duelist, _he thought._ Then again, nothing is as it seems._ "I summon Gemini Elf (Earth/Spellcaster, 1900/900) in attack mode! Now, destroy his Hero Avian!"

Jaden: 3100 

**Drake: 4000**

"I will end my turn."

"Wow! Sweet card, man! Let's see, I draw." He did so. "Then I'll play Polymerization! With it, I can fuse together my Elemental Heroes Sparkman and Clayman in order to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant (Light/Warrior/Fusion/Effect, 2400/1500)! And when he's summoned, I get to destroy one monster on the field with an original attack that's equal to or less than his! Gemini Elf, you're outta here!"

"Crud. That was my only monster…" Drake said.

"And the great part is, since that was only his effect, I still have his attack, which I can now use on you- directly!"

Jaden: 3100 

**Drake: 1600**

"That was painful." Julie commented.

"Yeah, more than half his life points, up in a burst of smoke and lightning." Flynn said.

"It's my turn." Drake said. "So, I'll draw a card. Then, I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"My turn, then!" Jaden drew his card. "I summon Wroughtweiler (Earth/Beast/Effect, 800/1200) in attack mode. Then, I'll have Thunder Giant attack your facedown monster!"

"Ha! That was my Gravekeeper's Guard. When he's flipped, I get to return one of your monsters to your hand. So, Giant, you're returned to the Fusion Deck."

"Okay! I still can have Wroughtweiler attack you directly!"

Jaden: 3100 

**Drake: 800**

"He needs something big here." Matt said. "He's down by a lot, and needs a big play."

"I'll throw down three facedowns and call it a turn."

"My turn… and it could be my last." Drake drew his card. He smiled. "Yes! I activate my Swords of Revealing Light Spell Card. Now, you are not allowed to attack for three turns. I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"My turn! I draw and activate my facedown Fusion Recovery! Now I can take one monster that was used as part of a fusion and one Polymerization back from my Graveyard! So, I'll bring back Clayman and a Polymerization." The cards slid out of his graveyard and he added them to his hand. "Then, I switch Wroughtweiler to defense mode and summon Elemental Hero Clayman (Earth/Warrior, 800/2000) in defense mode! That's all."

"Right, then. My move." Drake drew his card. "Good. That's just what I needed. I flip my White Ninja! When he's flipped, he destroys one defense mode monster. So, Clayman can say goodbye." Clayman was destroyed by a burst of shurikens. "Now, I set another monster and end my turn."

"Okay! Nice moves, Drake! I draw." He glanced down at his cards. "I play the Warrior Returning Alive! Now, one of my warriors returns- alive! So, Clayman will return again to my hand, and I'll use Polymerization to fuse him with Elemental Hero Bubbleman to form Elemental Hero Mudballman (Water/Warrior, 1800/3000) in defense mode! That's all."

"Right then." Drake drew his card._ I need more time!_ He thought. _But this monster will help._ "I sacrifice my White Ninja for Dark Magician Girl (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2000/1700)! Then I end my turn."

"Okay! Last turn for your swords! I draw… and end my turn."

" 'Last turn for my swords?' Ha! I draw, then flip summon my Magician of Faith."

"Sweet! What does that do?"

"It allows me to recycle one Spell Card. Can you guess which one?"

"Oh."

"Yep, the Swords of Revealing Light! Which I will activate again and stop you for a further three turns!"

"What's with all the stalling? Don't tell me you don't have anything more to play."

"Oh, I have more." _Just need some time,_ he thought. "I sacrifice my Magician of Faith to summon Silent Swordsman Lv. 5 (Light/Warrior/Effect, 2300/1000) in attack mode! Then, I play the Sage's Stone. While I have Dark Magician Girl on the field, I can Special Summon my Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100) from my deck!"

"Okay, you done?"

"No! I'm going to destroy that pesky Wroughtweiler!"

"When you destroy him, I get two cards back from the graves! An Elemental Hero, and Polymerization!"

"This guy is heavily dependent on Poly." Matt commented. "Shut it down, and he losses. And I think that's where Drake is headed."

"Where to?" Julie asked.

Matt looked at her with a funny smile. "Level 7."

"Huh?"

"You'll see."

"I'll just draw, set another card, summon my Elemental Hero Wildheart (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 1500/1600) in defense mode, and end my turn." Said Jaden.

"Okay! Almost… there!" Drake said as he drew his card. "That's it! I activate… DARK MAGIC ATTACK!"

"Sweet! Uh, what does it do?" Jaden looked totally confused. "I thought that it was just the name of the Dark Magician's attack."

"It IS the name of the Dark Magician's attack. But, it is also a potent spell card. When Dark Magician is on the field, I can activate it. Then, he completely destroys any and all spell or trap cards on the field. YOUR field."

"Oh!"

"Now, I activate UNITED WE STAND! I'll equip it to Dark Magician Girl! Now, she gains 800 attack points for every face-up monster on my side of the field! Dark Magician Girl, mow down the Mudball man!"

"Grr… he was my best defensive monster!"

"I know! Now, Dark Magician, destroy Wildheart!"

"Wait, can't he do more damage by killing Wildheart with the Swordsman?" Keith said.

"He can, but there's a better move. That would be a short-term gain. And I think that Drake is thinking in the long term." Matt said.

"Now, Silent Swordsman Lv. 5, attack him directly!"

Jaden: 800 

**Drake: 800**

"Your turn."

"That was a great move! Now it's my turn." Jaden drew his card. "I throw down two facedowns, and summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (Fire/Warrior, 1200/800) in defense mode. Your turn!"

"I draw! Now, Dark Magician, destroy Burstinatrix! Silent Swordsman, attack for the game!"

"I play Draining Shield! Now I gain Life points equal to his attack points, and the attack is negated."

Jaden: 3600 Drake: 800 

"Fine, then! Dark Magician Girl, destroy him!"

"I play Hero Spirit! Now that damage is negated!"

"Okay. Next turn, it's over."

"My turn! I draw, and activate Monster Reborn! Now, I can bring back Thunder Giant, who will destroy your Dark Magician Girl with his effect!"

Drake smiled. "Will he? I don't see him."

"Huh?" Jaden's Monster Reborn was face up on the field, activated, but nothing was happening. "What's going on?"

"You are witnessing the effect of Silent Swordsman Lv. 7!"

"Where did he come from?!?"

"Last turn- after SS level 5 attacked directly, his level up requirement was met. Last turn, during my Standby phase, he leveled up. Didn't you notice when you used Draining Shield, you gained an extra 500 life points?"

"So, what does this new Swordsman do?"

"Well, for starters, he's got a really big sword. For seconds, he negates all spell cards. So, now, my Swords are negated, and so is my United We Stand. But, with no other monsters, you pose no threat any more."

"YES!" said Julie. "He's going to win!"

"Don't count on it yet." Matt warned. "But that is very likely."

"I guess I'm done…" Jaden said.

"Very well then! I draw! Now, all my monsters, defeat him!"

Jaden: 0 

**Drake: 800**

Though the hometown player had lost, the crowd cheered. "That was a great duel, Drake!" Jacobs said.

"Thanks, Chancellor!"

"Yeah! That was awesome, let's duel again sometime!" Jaden said.

"Sure, if we ever see each other again, then we will." Drake said.

"And so, with that, the score is all tied up at 2 apiece!" Shepherd said. "And now, the duel you've all been waiting for… Matt Peterson vs. Zane Trusdale!"


	13. The Final Duel! Match of the Invincibles

Chapter 13- The Final Duel!- Battle of the Invincibles

Matt slowly walked up the stairs to face his opponent. "So, you are the Zane Trusdale I have heard so much about. I hope you won't bore me with this duel."

"Oh, I have no intention of doing that." Zane said. "Are you ready?"

"Always."

"Let's duel!"

Zane: 4000 

**Matt: 4000**

"I shall begin." Matt said. Drake thought that he saw a knowing look on Matt's face, but it was gone in a second. Matt drew a card. "I will summon my Mpirian Knight (Light/Warrior/Mpire, 1900/1400) in attack mode. Then I shall set a card facedown and end my turn. Give me your best shot."

"My best shot? You've got it." Zane said. "I special summon my Cyber Dragon (Light/Machine/Effect, 2100/1200) in attack mode. Next, I will summon Proto-Cyber Dragon (Light/Machine/Effect, 1100/800) in attack mode as well. Cyber Dragon, attack his Knight!"

**Zane: 4000**

**Matt: 3800**

"Now, Proto-Cyber Dragon attacks directly."

**Zane: 4000**

**Matt: 2700**

"Next, I activate Different Dimension Capsule. I remove one card from play and end my turn."

"Not bad. But it could have been better. I summon Mastrus the Guardian (Light/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 1400/2200) in defense mode. Then, I will end my turn."

"Is that all you've got?" Zane said. He drew his card. "I activate Polymerization. I will fuse both Cyber Dragons on the field to form my Cyber Twin Dragon (Light/Machine/Fusion/Effect, 2800/2400)."

"Wait, where's the Proto?" Julie asked.

"It was fused." Flynn said.

"Huh? But it couldn't have been used-"

"Yeah, it was. While on the field, Proto Cyber Dragon counts as just another Cyber Dragon."

"Oh."

"Cyber-Twin Dragon, attack his Guardian!" Zane said.

"I activate Guardian Art- Damage Negation!" Matt said. "This card can only be activated while I have Mastrus on the field or in my Graveyard. Now, you do no damage during this turn."

"Very well. I end my turn."

"My turn then." Matt drew a card. "I think I'll just end my turn."

"Now, my turn. I'll draw." Zane carefully studied his hand. "And now, my Different Dimension Capsule gives me the card I placed in it two turns ago. Next, I activate De-Fusion, to break apart my Twin Dragon. Then, I'll destroy your facedown card with Mystical Space Typhoon. Then, with nothing left to defend you but your monster, I'll play my Power Bond Spell Card! With it, I can fuse Machine-type monsters. Then the monster I summon gets an attack points- doubled, to be exact. So, I'll be fusing the Proto on the field, the Cyber Dragon on the field, and the one in my hand, to form… the Cyber…End…Dragon." There was a huge amount of lightning and smoke effects, and out of the smoke came a massive, three headed, mechanical dragon. (Light/Machine/Fusion/Effect, 4000/4000). "And as you probably know, when he destroys a defensive monster, the difference between his attack points and your monster's defense points comes out of your life points. So, now his attack points double to 8000."

"No way! Matt's going to lose!?!" Drake said.

"No way…" Flynn said. "He's got to have a trick up his sleeve."

"Cyber End Dragon! Destroy him!" said Zane.

"You cannot! I activate my Magical Barrier Trap Card!"

"Wait- I destroyed that!"

"Not exactly." Matt said, and tapped the Guardian's card on his duel disk. "He's called a guardian. He protects all other cards on my side of the field from destruction by your effects. Now, on to the effect of Magical Barrier. I can only activate it when you attack one of my Mpire monsters. The monster you attacked with and all face-up monsters on your side of the field with less attack points than the monster that attacked first are now… destroyed. So, your mighty dragon is destroyed. And now it is my turn."

"Yes… I guess it is."

"Hmm. I draw." Matt drew his card.

"Wow! I didn't think that he could get out of that." Drake said.

"Again I wonder- where is he getting all of these rare cards? They seem kind of cheap." Flynn said.

"Maybe he got them straight from I.I.?" Julie suggested.

"That could be." Said Keith. "But I've never heard of that."

"I summon my Mpirian Jet (Wind/Machine, 1800/400) in attack mode. Then, I activate the Bountiful Land of Mpire Spell Card. With it, I draw one card plus one for every Mpire monster on my side of the field. So, that's three cards." He drew them all in one shot, then fanned them out and glanced at them. Sinister organ music began to play.

"Hey, where's that coming from?" Drake asked. Flynn started looking around Keith just shrugged.

"Over there." Flynn said. "That kid." On the side of the duel ring was a small electric piano. A short, tubby kid was hunched over it, plunking at the keys.

"Chris, you can stop that now." Matt said.

"What? Oh." The one called Chris stopped playing and sat up.

"Now!" Matt extracted four cards from his hand. "I discard these four monsters and send my Mpirian Jet to the Graveyard to summon MPIRIAN OMNI MACHINE (Light/Machine/Mpire/Fusion/Effect, 5200/5200)! Now, Omni Machine, attack him directly and end this duel!"

**Zane: 0**

**Matt: 2700**

A deafening silence fell over the crowd. They were all stunned that Zane had lost.

"And that's all." Matt said. "We win."

Author's note: If you haven't figured it out yet, yes, I did create almost every last card that Matt uses.


	14. A Bitter Return

Chapter 14- A Bitter Return

Matt walked off the stage amidst the stunned silence.

"Are we ready to leave, Chancellor?" he said.

"Yes, I suppose we are." Jacobs said. He turned to Shepherd, who was still staring at the duel stage with his mouth hanging open. "Well, it's been nice, Shepherd, but we must be leaving. I guess we win."

" '_I guess?'_ You beat my best duelist! How?"

"With my best duelist. That's Matt. Watch out for him. He's really good."

" '_Really good?'_ He just beat a pro league-bound duelist without breaking a sweat! Where did you dig him up?"

"Chancellor." Matt interrupted forcefully. "I would like to get out of here. As soon as possible, please."

"Oh, yes."

"People are beginning to stare at me. Let's go."

"Don't you attract a lot of stares with just the head bandage? Why don't you take it off?" Julie asked.

"There's a good reason for me wearing this. You'll probably find out sooner or later, and when you do, you'll ask me to never take them off again." With that, they walked out of the duel arena and boarded their plane, leaving a room full of stunned Duel Academy students behind.

Three hours later they had arrived back at Duel Academy. It was fast approaching dark, but Drake could still make out the shadowy outline of a figure on the runway.

"Who's that?" Drake asked.

"I don't know." Jacobs answered. "I never told anyone to wait for us." The plane skidded to a halt. The door opened. The figure moved over to the open doorway.

"This is ominous." Keith said. "Mysterious figure on the runway? Great." Drake walked down the ramp formed by the open door. He could now make out the figure at the bottom. It was his mom.

"Oh…" Drake began, but never finished the thought. His mother grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him away. "Hey!"

"You're coming home. I told you that you weren't coming here, and you didn't listen to me. Now, let's go!" she began to pull harder. Flynn walked up to her.

"And what are you doing?" he said.

"I'm talking my ridiculously stupid son home, where he belongs."

"Why do you think that? I would say, from what I can see, he belongs here." Flynn's voice was icy.

"And since when do you know what's best for my son?"

"Since I watched him duel Prof. Bentz."

"Ah, so you're another one of those stupid duelists? I'm not listening to you. Get away from my son."

Matt had just got off the plane and walked over next to Flynn. "His mother's trying to take him away?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Lucky guess from reasonable deduction."

"Is this another one of your friends?" Drake's mom asked Drake disdainfully.

"Yeah. Don't bother him."

"My point is proven. This stupid card game has pulled you in with a crowd of freaks!"

This did not sit well with Matt. "Who are you calling a freak, woman?" he asked in a voice filled with venom. His good eye fixed itself on hers.

"You, you scum." She responded. His eye narrowed. The same panic that had filled Chazz when he had insulted Matt after they had arrived at Duel Academy now seized hold of Drake's mother. Her trembling hands lost their grip on his arm and she collapsed.

"Go away. Leave your son alone. He's very good at what he does. Don't you dare try to change that." Matt said. With that, he turned and walked away. Drake joined Flynn in staring at him as he walked away.

"How does he do that?" Drake said.

"Gotta be the concealed eye." Flynn said. "There's something bizarre about it, otherwise he wouldn't keep it covered."

"Yeah." Keith finally realized that something was happening and came over.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Oh, my mom doesn't approve of my dueling. So she came her to try and get me out, and Matt struck her with panic and walked away." Drake said.

Keith shook his head. "He's a fiend, that Matt. But not in a bad way."

"That's a fair way to put it." Flynn said. "Let's go." And with that, they said their goodbyes and each went to his own dorm.

------------

The next morning Drake woke up late. "Oh, great, now I'm late for class!" He sprung up out of bed and then realized it was Saturday. "Oh, yeah. No class on Saturday. Gosh I'm stupid." He threw on some clothes and his jacket, grabbed his duel disk, and let himself out of his room. He found Keith and Flynn hanging around the main building doors. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Just so you're not surprised, that 'master of machines' is challenging you again." Flynn said. "What was his name again?"

"Oh, him? I think it was William." Drake said. "Hmph. I could take him in my sleep. Especially with this new deck."

"Don't bet on it. It's going to be a tag duel." Keith said. "You might want to go pick up Matt so you can have the unfair advantage."

"Oh, come on, do you think I would let you go get that freak?" sneered a voice from behind them. It was (big surprise) William.

"No, but that wouldn't stop me from trying." Drake said. "And who did you bring with for this tag duel? Hopefully not someone as big and stupid as you."

"Who are you calling big and stupid?!?" William said.

"Well, I would assume that he is calling you that." Flynn said. "As none of us are that big, and we're all pretty smart."

"Well it doesn't matter! Meet Benjamin, he'll be my tag partner for my absolute demolition of you."

"Where is he?" Drake asked. "I don't see him." A small boy wearing a red jacket peeked out from behind William's mass.

"I-I am B-Benjamin. I-I-I w-w-will b-be d-dueling y-you. A-are y-y-you r-r-ready?" Benjamin said. His voice was quiet and nervous.

"So, who's going to be your partner?" William said. Drake looked from Flynn to Keith, and from Keith to Flynn.

"Hmmm… well, in the absence of Matt, I guess I'll have to go with-" At that moment, Julie came running up and tripped over her own feet. She skidded across the ground and landed in front of William. He started to laugh.

"_This_ is your partner? Ha! Ha! Hahahahaha…" He continued laughing. "You picked a _green_ to be your partner? You're stupider than I thought!" Julie got to her feet and looked at Drake, confused.

"What's he talking about, Drake?" she asked. Drake scowled.

"You klutz! I've got to tag duel him, and you just interjected yourself into the position of my partner!" Drake yelled. Julie looked into his eyes, tears welling up in hers.

"B-b-but… I thought I was late for class…"

"IT'S SATURDAY!" Drake said.

"Oh…" she sniffed. William laughed again.

"Come on, let's get this going! I want to humiliate you so I can laugh at you some more, and pay you back for humiliating me on the ship!" he said.

"Hey, I never said _she_ was my duel partner." Drake said.

"Too bad! She volunteered herself when she tripped on in here."

Drake looked at Julie with venom. "Come on. Get your duel disk ready so I can end this."

"F-fine…" she slowly readied her duel disk and slipped her deck into the slot.

"Let's do this with 8000 life points per team, eh?" said William.

"No, 4000 life points a person." Drake said.

"Whatever. It makes it easier for me to take you down." Four duel disks clicked on.

"Let's duel!"

Drake: 4000 

**Julie: 4000**

**William: 4000**

**Benjamin: 4000**

"I'll go first!" said William. "Oh, yeah, and you're allowed to attack the people who go before you!"

"Good. Then I can wail on you faster." Drake said.

"I set two cards face-down, then summon my Battle Footballer (Fire/Macine, 800/2200) in defense mode. That's all."

"I'll go next." Said Drake. He drew and smiled. "Now witness my nice new deck. I activate the spell card Call of the Mummy! Now, whenever I have no monsters on my side of the field, like right now, I can Special Summon one Zombie-type monster from my hand. So, I'll special summon Ryu Kokki (Dark/Zombie/Effect, 2400/2000). Then, I normal summon my Regenerating Mummy (Dark/Zombie/Effect, 1800/1000) in attack mode. Ryu Kokki, destroy the Footballer!"

"No, you won't! I activate Mirror Force, which will destroy all the attack mode monsters on your side of the field!"

"Hmph."

"And you call me bad." Julie said. "You walked right into that."

"Shut up! I'm not done yet. I activate Premature Burial, which allows me to bring back Ryu Kokki at the price of 800 life points."

Drake: 3200 

**Julie: 4000**

**William: 4000**

**Benjamin: 4000**

"Not really, because I activate Magic Jammer. Now I discard one card from my hand and negate and destroy that card."

"God! He's using too many traps. Guess I'll just place a face-down and end my turn."

"M-m-my t-t-turn." Said Benjamin. He drew a card. "I-I-I s-s-summon E-E-Exarion Universe (Dark/Beast-Warrior/Effect, 1800/1900) in a-a-attack m-m-mode."

"His stuttering is going to drive me crazy by the end of this duel." Keith said.

"Got that right." Said Flynn.

"E-E-Exarion U-U-Universe, a-a-attack D-D-Drake directly."

"I activate A Hero Emerges! Now, you have to select one card from my hand, and if it's a monster, I get to summon it. But since I only have one card in my hand, let's get on with it. I Special Summon my Vampire Lord (Dark/Zombie/Effect, 2000/1500) in attack mode."

"I-I-I p-p-place a f-f-face d-d-down. T-t-that's a-a-all."

"My turn, I guess… though I don't know why I should take it." Julie said.

"What are you talking about? Drake asked.

"Well, it's clear that you don't want me here." She said.

"Whoa, chill out."

"No! You chill out! You're the one who was yelling."

"It's not my fault you cut in!"

"And it isn't mine!"

"STOP BICKERING!!!" came a voice from behind Flynn and Keith. "YOU KEEP BICKERING LIKE THIS, YOU ENDANGER YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING!" Drake spun around. Matt was standing behind Keith and Flynn, and he looked livid.

"What are you talking about?" Drake asked. Matt seemed to regain his composure.

"This is a tag _team_ duel. If you do not play as a team, you cannot win. Simple as that. And I would not say you are acting much like a team, with some unity." He answered.

"Alright. I get it." Drake turned to Julie. "Sorry for being so brusque earlier. It's not your fault."

"It's okay. I was late, I can't put all the blame-or probably any of it-on you." Julie said.

"Are you two gonna just stand there, or are we going to duel?" William said.

"We're going to duel!" Julie said.

"And we are going to kick your asses!" Drake said.


	15. The Power of Unity!

Chapter 15- The Power of a United Front

"It's my turn!" said Julie.

Drake: 3200 

**Julie: 4000**

**William: 4000**

**Benjamin: 4000**

Julie drew her card. "Oooo, I like this. I activate Card Destruction. Now, all of us must discard our entire hands and draw the same number of cards that we had before we discarded." William scowled.

"I hate people who make you discard cards." He said as he slid his hand into the graveyard. Three monsters appeared on Julie's side of the field. "Wait, what the…?"

"Heh. Those are my Dark World monsters." She said.

"_Dark World…?_"

"Yeah. Kind of odd to see a girl playing a Dark World deck?" Drake said. "Well, anyway, go ahead Julie."

"Yes, thanks to my Card Destruction spell card, two Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) and one Sillva, Warlord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) were discarded from my hand, and therefore were Special Summoned to my side of the field. And, since another of those cards that was discarded was Broww, Huntsman of Darkworld, I get to draw an extra card." She did so. "Now, Goldd one, destroy Exarion Universe!"

"I-I-I a-a-activate my f-f-face-down c-c-card, which is R-r-rush R-r-recklessly. T-t-this i-i-increases the attack p-p-points of one m-m-monster b-b-by 700 p-p-points."

Drake: 3200 

**Julie: 3800**

**William: 4000**

**Benjamin: 4000**

"Oh well. I still have another Goldd and a Sillva. Goldd, destroy the Battle Footballer!"

"Oh, well. After you destroyed him, it doesn't matter that you have another monster. You can't attack without being blocked by the Exarion Universe that Benjamin has." William said.

"Actually, that's not true." Drake said.

"What? Huh?"

"Well, Exarion Universe is in _attack_ mode. I don't think a monster in _attack_ mode can _defend_ very well."

"Crud, I thought I could get you with that."

"No. Julie, proceed."

"With much gusto. Sillva, attack William directly!"

Drake: 3200 

**Julie: 3800**

**William: 1700**

**Benjamin: 4000**

"I'm done with a face-down."

"And now it's back to me!" William said. "I draw… and activate Monster Reborn! I'll use it to bring back… PERFECT MACHINE KING (Earth/Machine/Effect, 2700/1500)!"

"Great." Drake said. "That's one of the best Machine-Type monsters out there."

"Well, duh, he's perfect, you idiot." William said. "Perfect Machine King, destroy his Vampire Lord!"

Drake: 2500 

**Julie: 3800**

**William: 1700**

Benjamin: 4000 

"Now that your only monster is destroyed, I think I'll set a card and end my turn."

"I'll destroy your face-down with my face-down Dust Tornado."

"Oh, well. In one turn, your partner will be gone. Then how will you compete…?"

"Great. No monsters and no hand cards. Just my face-up Call of the Mummy…" Drake said. "But I guess that's a consequence of the deck." He drew his card. "And I top-deck the Swords of Revealing Light!"

"Nice!" Julie said. "Now, no matter how perfect that Machine King is, he can't attack for three whole turns!"

"And neither can Benjamin. Since this is a tag duel, what affects one affects the other." Drake said. "I'll end my turn."

"T-t-then it's m-m-my t-t-turn." Benjamin said. He drew a card. "I-I-I set a m-m-monster in d-d-defense mode, and s-s-switch my E-e-exarion Universe to d-d-defense m-m-mode. T-t-that's all."

"Then it's my turn!" Julie said, and drew her card. "Hm. I suppose I'll play Dark World Lightning. I'll destroy Benjamin's set monster, then discard a card from my hand- another Broww, Huntsman of Dark World! I'll draw another card." She drew it and her eyes lit up. "Drake, if you could have one monster in your hand right now, what would it be?"

"Huh? Uh, tough question. Let's see… maybe another Ryu Kokki. Why?" Drake said, utterly lost as to where she was going with this.

"Because I activate Dark Designator. Now, I get to tell you the name of one monster card. If that monster card is in your deck, then you get to add it to your hand. So, I think I'll say- Ryu Kokki!"

"Oh my gosh! I don't believe it! How'd you know I had that card?" Drake said, smiling. He pulled a Ryu Kokki from his deck. "Thanks a bunch."

"Ah, no problem. Now, I think I'll summon Cyber Soldier of Dark World (Dark/Machine, 1400/1200) in attack mode." William's Perfect Machine King began to glow. "Huh?"

"Oh, come on." William said. "Anyone knows that a King grows stronger when surrounded by his subjects. So, now that there is another machine type monster on the field, he gains 500 attack points! (3200)"

"Oh."

"Don't worry yet, Julie. He still can't get out of the Sword's power, so we'll worry about that later." Drake said.

"Yeah! I agree. Okay, now, Goldd, destroy Exarion Universe!"

"G-g-good t-t-thing he w-w-was in d-d-defense m-m-mode." Benjamin stuttered.

"Well, it doesn't matter, because now you're wide open. Sillva and Cyber Soldier, attack him directly!"

Drake: 2500 

**Julie: 3800**

**William: 1700**

**Benjamin: 300**

"Rats. He just managed to hang on." Keith said.

"So? He'll go soon." Matt said.

"I'll end with that." Julie said.

"My turn!" William said. "I can't throw off these infernal swords yet, so I'll just play… Polymerization!"

"Great. This is never good." Flynn said.

"There are worse things that could happen." Matt said.

"True."

"I fuse Cannon Soldier and Giga-Tech Wolf to from my Labyrinth Tank (Dark/Machine/Fusion, 2400/2400) in attack mode. And since that puts another machine type-monster on the field, Perfect Machine King gains another 500 attack points (3700)

"That thing is getting very big." Keith commented.

"I've seen worse." Said Matt.

"I'll bet you have." Flynn said.

"I'll end it there." William said.

"Fine, then it's my turn!" Drake said, and drew his card. "Hm. This might be useful later. But for now, I'll rely on my Swords for protection. I end my turn."

"M-m-my turn?" Benjamin drew another card, hand shaking. "I-I-I summon M-M-Mechanicalchaser (Dark/Machine, 1850/800) in attack m-m-mode. That g-g-gives William's P-P-Perfect Machine K-K-King an extra 500 p-p-points. (4200) Then I-I-I activate m-m-my Axe of D-D-Despair. I'll equip i-i-it to P-P-Perfect Machine K-K-King. (5200)

"How are we going to break through that?" Julie said.

"With a little… unity." Drake said. "Summon some monsters."

"Ha! 'Some monsters' won't help you now. My Perfect Macine King has more attack points than Dragon Master Knight!" William said.

"I-I-I end m-m-my t-t-turn." Benjamin said.

"My turn, then!" Julie said, and drew her card. "Hm. I'll summon Dark Blade (Dark/Warrior, 1800/1500) in attack mode. I guess that's it."

"Wait! You can still… never mind." Drake said.

"What?"

"You could have attacked, and defeated Benjamin. But don't worry about it."

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does." William said. "This is the last turn for those Swords, so after this my Machine King will walk all over you. I draw…" He checked his one-card hand. "Ha! Another good card! I summon my Machine King Prototype (Earth/Machine/Effect, 1500/1600). While he isn't as good as the Perfect Machine King (obviously), he still packs good power. He gains 100 attack points for each machine-type monster! (1900) And so does my Perfect Machine King, so now he's a t 5700! I'm done."

"Here it goes… this could decide the duel…" Drake drew his card. "And it is! I Special Summon Ryu Kokki with Call of the Mummy, then I activate Book of Life! I'll use it to bring back my other Ryu Kokki and remove the Cannon Soldier from your graveyard."

"How are more monsters going to help you?"

"Like so… I activate… my last card… UNITED WE STAND!"

"Yes! That card is awesome!" Flynn said.

"Wait, what exactly does it do?" William said.

"You don't know? Oh, fine. It's a equip spell card. I'll equip it to my Ryu Kokki. Now, for every face-up monster on our side of the field, my monster gains a whopping 800 attack points."

"Wait a minute… wait… you have six monsters so that's…that's… uh…"

"As I thought. Stupid." Drake said.

"Let me help you out here." Matt said. "That's an addition of 4800 attack points."

"WHAT?!?" William looked panicked. "Extra attack points? How much does that make?!?!?"

"Try 7200 attack points."

"Holy…"

"Yes, I know, quite a bit, and your partner is about to lose as well. Non-equiped Ryu Kokki, destroy Mechanical Chaser!"

Drake: 2500 

**Julie: 3800**

William: 1700 

**Benjamin: 0**

"And now, Equipped Ryu Kokki, destroy perfect machine king and end this!"

Drake: 2500 

**Julie: 3800**

**William: 0**

Benjamin: 0 

"What?!? I lost?!? It can't be!" William said.

"And that's game." Said Drake. He turned away. "Good game, Julie."

"Thanks."

"See what I meant?" Matt said.

"Huh?" Drake looked at him questioningly.

"Unity, Drake. United We Stand. Simple." He said, and walked away. They all watched as he walked away.

"Do you think he can see the future?" Julie asked.

"Somehow, I don't doubt it." Flynn said. "I still haven't worked out what he said before we left the docks. You know, about always remembering why we dueled in the first place?"

"Yeah. I haven't figured that one out. Maybe he can see the future. But hey, he's cool. And real good to have as an ally." Keith said.

"I will…defeat you eventually…" William said from behind them. Drake turned and looked at him.

"Not a chance."


	16. The Eve of a Deadly Assault

Chapter 16- The Eve of a Deadly Assault

_Three Weeks Later…_

Drake sat on his bed. It was late at night, and he had already said goodnight to Flynn, Keith and Julie, but he couldn't fall asleep. He felt like something was going to happen. He just knew it. As he sat on his bed and thumbed through his deck in the dark, he thought he heard a noise outside his door.

"Hello? Who's there?" he said, and hopped off his bed to get the door. As he reached for the doorknob, the door flew off the hinges and knocked him up against the opposite wall. He felt an intense pain in his back and saw a large black shape enter the room, then blacked out.

------------------

"Drake! Drake! Are you okay?" came a voice. Drake felt himself being shaken. Something in the room smelled nasty, like sulfur. He could feel some sort of liquid underneath his fingers. The voice spoke again. "Drake! Wake up!"

"What? Huh?" Drake opened his eyes. The room was blurry and there was a throbbing pain in his back where he had crashed against the wall. He guessed that he was still in his own room. "What's going on?" He sat up and shook his head. The kneeling form of Flynn came into focus.

"That thing knocked you out. I've spent a good deal of five minutes trying to bring you back to consciousness. Good thing I had a medical kit in my briefcase, even though almost everything else in it was damaged." He said. Drake looked around the room. Laying facedown on the floor was some type of hideous creature. There was a large pool of the strange liquid surrounding its head- or at least, the part of it that looked like a head. A battered metal suitcase was lying on the floor next to Flynn.

"What happened?" Drake asked.

"Can't talk right now. We've got to go find Keith and make sure he's okay." Flynn responded.

"Right, right." Drake got unsteadily to his feet. Flynn walked to the door and checked outside.

"Okay, no more creatures." He picked up the battered suitcase.

"What's in the briefcase, anyway?"

"Well, my duel disk was, but now it's pretty broken. Let's go." The walked out the door and ran through the woods that separated Drake's dorm from Keith's. One of the lights was on, so they headed up towards it. They opened the door and found Keith sitting on his bed, watching one of th creatures on the floor.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Drake asked.

"Well, that thing walked in and I turned on the lights because I was sleepy and I could discern what it was. As soon as I turned on the lights it sort of… started burning." He kicked the corpse. "It stopped a little before you walked in."

"And we have no clue at all why." Flynn said. "Lock the door." Drake closed the door behind him and locked it, but, he thought, that probably wouldn't make much difference, after what he had seen the creature do to his door. "Alright, so we know they don't like light. But where did they come from? And why?"

"Those questions could be difficult to answer." Keith said. "Maybe Matt has an idea?" Flynn looked nervous.

"Do you think he made it out?" Flynn asked.

"Er… yeah." Keith said. "I kind of guessed that he would." At that moment the door opened and Matt walked in.

"Good. You all made it." He said. He glanced at the suitcase in Flynn's hand. "Creative."

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Drake asked.

"I have a general idea. I need to meet up with someone to get specifics. But first, we need to see if anyone else made it through the assault. Principally Miss Daran, since I know she is one of the best duelists here, despite her meager lodgings."

"Right." Flynn said.

"In the meantime, stay alert." Matt said. "Most of these creatures seem savage, but I would not be surprised to find some intelligent ones." He pulled a very large knife out of his jacket pocket. "Otherwise, this should serve as sufficient deterrent for the more brutal ones." They slipped out of Keith's room and headed through the trees towards the Green dorm. Thankfully they did not encounter any other monsters during the walk. As they cleared the last grove of trees, the run-down image of the green dorm appeared before them.

"Wow, it looks worse than I thought it would." Drake said.

"Maybe that's because all the doors have been torn off by the monsters." Flynn said. Drake nodded in a sort of agreeing way. A sudden scream pieced through the night. They all looked at each other.

"Julie!" Drake said. They ran up the stairs on the side of the dorm, Matt in front, Keith in back. They checked each room as they ran past, and found Julie backed up against a wall, holding off one of the creatures with a chair. However, the chair was splintering, and the creature would be at her throat in seconds. Acting quickly, Matt leapt at the fiend, and, in a short time, had cut it up beyond recognition. Drake thought he saw a strange look on Matt's face, like he was enjoying the blood that was flying everywhere. After he was done horribly butchering the creature, Matt jumped down off its rather large and mutilated corpse, and with a little flick of his neck, flipped some hair off his face.

"Are you all right?" Matt asked Julie.

"Yeah… I guess…" she looked at the corpse before her and shuddered. "What is that thing?"

"I'm not quite sure. I need to meet up with someone to confirm my observations about them." He said.

"Where is this friend of yours?" Drake asked.

"He's not a friend of mine. He's my brother."

"Okay, where is he?"

"He's on the island, a little behind the main building." Matt walked towards the now empty doorframe. "Come on, we need to get out of here before more of those things show up." With that, he jumped over the railing and onto the grass below. The others followed him.

They trekked through the woods for nearly half an hour, Matt leading them and hacking tree branches out of the way with the still-bloody knife in his right hand.

"It's a bit further in." He said. "I had to make sure that no one could find it unless I led them to it." He pulled a tree aside. They had made it to a small clearing in the forest. There was a large amount of brush scattered across the ground. Matt began to clear the brush away. After a while a metal door appeared from under the brush. Matt pulled it open. "After you." He said, and moved to allow them through. One by one they climbed down the trapdoor and entered the secret base of Matt's younger brother.


	17. To Defeat a Fiend

Chapter 17- To Defeat a Fiend…

The shaft leading down to the base must have been at least 30 ft long. Drake's arms hurt by the time he reached the bottom. When he did, he realized that he was surrounded by computer equipment and other such technology. He moved in and looked at one of the many screens sitting on the desks around him. As soon as he got near it he heard a voice.

"Don't touch that!" it came. "It could blow up in your face or something like that. You never know with Matt's stuff."

"Brooklyn, shut up." Matt said as he came down the shaft. Flynn, Keith and Julie had all made it down by now. He was behind them all. "You can come out. I've brought a few…friends." A short tubby kid on a rolling chair rolled out from behind a shelf. He was holding a stack of papers. "Ah, is that the report I requested?" The one called Brooklyn rolled over to him and handed Matt the papers. Then he rolled back across the room. "Brooklyn, you're a moron. This is the wrong report!" Brooklyn rolled back across the room, grabbed the papers, flipped through a few of them, and rolled back behind the shelves.

"You're from Brooklyn?" Drake asked.

"No."

"But you call him Brooklyn, and you're his brother."

"That is true, but I only call him Brooklyn after another guy in a game I played."

"Oh. What's his real name?"

"His real name is Chris." Brooklyn rolled back around the corner with a new stack of papers. He handed them to Matt. "Wow, second try, Brooklyn, that's an improvement." He flipped through the papers.

"Wasn't he at the other duel academy?" Flynn asked.

"Hm?" Matt said, focused on the documents in his hand.

"Wasn't he on the little piano on the side?"

"Yes, he was. Very astute, Flynn." Matt continued flipping through the documents. "Great."

"What's going on?" Drake asked for what seemed like the millionth time that night.

"Okay. You know those arches that surround the duel academy main building?" They all nodded. "Well, those are actually gates between this plane of existence and the shadow realm."

"The shadow realm? I thought that was only a myth." Flynn said.

"No. It's real. I've been there before. Not a nice place, but it isn't actually that bad either."

"I thought it was supposed to be a place of torture." Keith said.

"It can be. But only if someone with a millennium item warps it to be such. Someone possessing a millennium item not only gets the ability to use the item's power, but can also send people to the shadow realm and warp reality there, as well as escape from the shadow realm on their own power. Most of the good people who possess an item will not send people there on general principles, but the evil ones use it as a place of torture. Hence how it got its bad name. Actually, it is a rather convenient place to hide, if you can find a way back out."

"Okay, so what about the creatures?" Julie asked. "What does the shadow realm have to do with them?"

"Those are the shadow realm beasts." Matt flipped back a few pages. "They are ferocious beasts that, instead of killing a person, banish their soul and inhabit the body. The banished soul is sent to the shadow realm, where it is locked in a vault of souls. Not a pleasant experience, I might add. However, the methods they use to do this are varied. As we guessed before, there are intelligent ones, who attempt to duel their victim. The less intelligent ones simply use brute force. It is impossible to kill the intelligent ones with force, but fortunately the extra intelligence prevents them from using brute force, which they see as too low for them."

"What would they want with human bodies?" Flynn said.

"That's open to speculation. I would presume that they would need something like that to survive in light. As Keith discovered by accident, they seem to burn up when hit with strong light. That's probably why they attacked at night, as well as for the element of surprise. The real question is why would they want to invade the earth realm in the first place? Shadow realm too small for them? Or perhaps something else? It could be a lot of things."

"Yes, so how are we going to deal with them?" Drake asked. Matt smiled, and reached over to a rack on the wall. He grabbed a double-barreled shotgun.

"Hey, that's my shotgun!" Brooklyn said. Matt cracked the breech and slammed it shut, creating an ominous clicking sound. "B-but you can borrow it."

"Where's that ammo belt, Brooklyn?"

"It's under the rack." Matt picked it up and slung it around him.

"This should do." Matt said. "And for the intelligent ones, well, we'll just have to duel them, won't we? The others I will… _take care of_. Now, let's get out of here." With that he forced them back up the shaft that had lead to the secret base.


	18. An Easy Recon Job

Chapter 18- An Easy Recon Job

They filed out of the basement and back out into the moonlit grounds of Duel Academy. Matt was last out. He had strapped the shotgun to his leg.

A terrible roar filled the night. They all spun around (except for Matt, who was facing that direction anyway) to see another of the shadow realm beasts. Matt stepped in front of the others, between them and the beast. And for a moment there was silence. In the pause Drake got his first good look at the fiend.

It was about eight feet tall, a towering monolith of flesh and muscle. The skin seemed to be tinged with purple, though it was hard to tell in the (lack of) light. Its jaws were massive and hung out from its body. The hands were even larger, if that is actually possible, and seemed to have holes in the tips.

"Can you speak?" Matt asked it. It let out a series of growls and snarls and then ran at them. "No, I suppose not." Matt drew the shotgun and leveled it. The beast was about three feet away when Matt pulled both triggers. A massive blast filled the night. The shadow realm beast was standing there, one hand raised, seemingly ready to claw away at Matt with it, but now it had two massive circular holes in its stomach. It stood there for a moment, then fell over at Matt's feet, oozing blood and something that looked like guts. Matt cracked the breech of his shotgun, shoved two more shells into the barrels, and snapped the gun shut.

"Wow, that was bloody." Julie said.

"Get used to it." Matt said, flipped the shotgun across his shoulders, and pulled one of the triggers. A creature breathed its last in a cry of anguish. "Because you'll be seeing-" He leveled the shotgun and emptied the second barrel into a rapidly approaching creature. "-a lot more of it." He cracked the shotgun's breech open, slammed two more shells from his bandoleer into the barrels of the shotgun, and snapped it shut.

"Can I get one of those?" Flynn said.

"Sorry, this is the only one we have. Why would I grab Brooklyn's if I had my own? Besides the fact that this one is double barreled, no reason if I have my own." Matt said. "All I've got extra is this." He pulled a 9mm pistol out of his jacket.

"You walk around with that in your jacket?" Drake asked. "Does Jacobs know?"

"No, but he couldn't stop me even if he knew." Matt said. "Are any of you certified with a handgun?" There was a long pause. "Well don't all jump up at once."

"Well…" said Flynn. "I did go to a Marine shooting range once and fire a rifle."

"Why?"

"I thought I might go into the marines some time after I went to High School. But then I changed my mind."

"How'd you do?"

"954 out of 1000 targets." Matt offered him the handle of the pistol.

"Now, that thing only has one clip, but it's got 16 rounds in it, so don't use it if I can blow them away. I have more and more effective ammo than you anyway." Matt said, and slid the shotgun into the holster on his leg. Flynn pocketed the pistol.

"Now what do we do?" Keith asked.

"I'd like to do a little recon." Matt said. "Find out if anyone else survived the attack. We'll split up. I'll take Julie, and the rest of you are all together since we don't have another weapon. Though, I do have this." He pulled out the knife and handed it to Drake. "Just in case you run out of ammo. Come on, Julie." With that, he tramped through the woods, with Julie following in his wake.

"Where do we go from here?" Drake asked.

"Not towards the main building, that's for sure." Keith said. "That's where the gates are."

"Yeah, let's just go that way." Said Flynn, and arbitrarily pointed in a direction.

"Sounds good." Drake said, and they began to walk in that direction. They roamed at random for nearly half an hour. Then they found themselves at the back of the Duel Academy main building.

"Should we go in?" Keith asked, holding a doorknob.

"Let me go first." Flynn said, and moved up to the door. Keith backed off. Flynn grabbed the doorknob with one hand, in the other he held the pistol. He turned the knob and flung the door open, pointing the pistol down the hall. No one was there. Flynn moved in, scanning around with the pistol raised. Then he motioned Keith and Drake inward.

"There's no one here." He said. He moved farther in, followed by Drake and Keith. He turned a corner and stopped. "Why is it that no one is here?"

"Could they be elsewhere?" Keith said.

"Maybe they decided that Matt is more of a threat than us." Drake said. "So they sent everyone after him."

"Either way, it unnerves me. There were exactly 2,405 students here, along with 328 faculty and staff. We should have met _someone_ by now." Flynn said.

"We should keep moving." Drake suggested.

"Sure." Flynn said, and turned another corner. They found themselves standing in the largest room in the whole academy, the main duel arena. "Oh, crap. This is bad." The lights came on and a metal gate slammed shut behind them. A ton of shadow realm beasts jumped out of the stands.

"Hehehe…" laughed one of them. It wore a duel disk that seemed to be an extension of his arm. "I knew this trap would work. Now I can steal three more souls towards the completion of our mission. Several of the fiends moved forward and flung themselves at the three. Flynn raised the pistol, determined to fight back, when the roof exploded.

"What the fu…?" said the intelligent fiend, turning with wild eyes to gaze at the destroyed roof. The debris hit and crushed the fiends that had been flying at Drake, Keith and Flynn. And Matt followed them, standing on top of one of the chunks of rocks.

"Hello!" he said merrily. He whipped out the shotgun and pulled both triggers in the direction of the fiends. Four went down, and the rest ran at him. One got close. Matt brought the shotgun up and snapped its neck in half, causing the shotgun's breech to snap open. Matt shoved two more shells into the empty barrels, then brought the shotgun down on the head of another fiend that had gotten too close. The barrels snapped up and shut the breech. Matt ducked under another fiend and threw the fiend over his shoulder, then leveled his duck gun again and blew away three more beasts. All that was left was the freak with the duel disk growing out of his arm. All the others had been turned into pools of blood and guts by Matt and his trusted shotgun.

Julie slid down a rope after Matt. She accidentally landed in a now-dead fiend. "Eww, gross." She said, and jumped out of the corpse. She seemed to be holding something in her hand, but before Drake could ask what it was, the last fiend spoke.

"So, the brute force squad fails again. Who should I duel first?" it said. Matt turned to the threesome.

"I got you out of that, your turn to get us out of something else." He said, casually reloading the duck gun.

"I'll duel him." Drake said, and stepped forward. "Alright, blockhead. Let's do this."

The fiend laughed, a cold, cruel laugh that made everyone but Matt (Of course, Drake thought) shiver. "You, a puny human, call me 'blockhead?' You have some spunk, but I doubt that it will help you here! Very well, I shall duel you, but, if you lose, I get all of your souls!"

"I can't accept that!" Drake said. "That's cheap, let them fight for their own freedom if I lose!"

"No! I make the rules here!" said the fiend. "You will duel for your friends and yourself!" Drake looked at his friends.

"Go ahead Drake." Matt said. "I've got a little insurance in case you lose."

"Uh, okay. But what about the others?"

"I'll take care of them too."

"Alright." Drake jumped up onto the duel stage. "Okay, blockhead, let's do this."

"Heh. I won't even have to try." He held his arm with the duel disk on it out. It began to glow.

"Let's duel!"


	19. There's Always a First Time

Chapter 19- There's Always a First Time

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I will begin." Said the Fiend. "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fine then." Drake said. "I draw, then activate my Nobleman of Crossout spell card! I'll use it to remove your face-down monster from play." The fiend's face-down monster flickered and vanished. He frowned. "Then, I summon Dark Blade (Dark/Warrior, 1800/1500) in attack mode!" Suddenly, Drake felt short of breath. Something seemed to be sapping the energy out of him. He staggered where he stood for a moment, then regained his composure. "What was that?" he said softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I forget to mention that this was going to be a Shadow Game?" the fiend said. Matt scowled.

"What's up?" Keith asked.

"Shadow Games are a pain in the ass. In order to maintain a monster, a player must use his own life force. If at any time the player cannot keep them supported, the player will die. So, to keep himself alive, Drake may have to not summon a monster sometimes. And also, if a monster is destroyed, it causes considerable pain to the owner. Only people who are accustomed to them can survive them, because playing multiple Shadow Games increases a person's vitality and energy stores." Matt said.

"Have you played one?" Flynn said.

"Yes. It was hell."

"In any case." Drake said. "I'm going to place a face-down, then attack directly."

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 2200**

"I end my turn."

"Good, then I can end you!" The fiend drew a card. "I play Card Destruction. With it, we both discard our hands-"

"I know what it does, get on with it!" Drake said, breathing hard.

"Oh, look at the poor rookie, can't even survive one minute in a Shadow Game." The fiend said mockingly. He tossed his hand into the graveyard and drew five more cards. Drake drew four. "Now I activate Soul Release. It allows me to remove up to five monsters from either or both graveyards. So, I remove my Dark Lucius Lv. 8 Earth, Dark Ruler Ha Des, and Invader of Darkness. Then I activate Dimension Fusion! Now, by paying 2000 life points, we can both Special Summon as many monsters as possible that have been removed from the game."

Drake: 4000 Fiend: 300 

"So I Special Summon Dark Lucius Lv. 8 (Earth/Fiend/Effect, 2800/900), Dark Ruler Ha Des (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2450/1600), and Invader of Darkness (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2900/2500) from my removed area! Then, I'll use my Dark Lucius to destroy your Dark Blade!"

"I activate Waboku! Now you won't do any damage."

"I'll activate my Dian Keto the Cure Master, Poison of the Old Man, and Emergency Provisions to give myself an extra 4200 life points."

"Huh? How?"

"First, Dian Keto gives me 1000 life points. Then, I chain my Poison of the Old Man to regain 1200 life points. Finally, I chain my Emergency Provisions to send those two cards to the graveyard and regain 2000 life points."

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 4500**

"Man, and just when he was on the brink of death." Keith said.

"Okay." Drake said. "My turn." He drew a card. _I gotta do something soon… I feel tired…almost tired enough to fall asleep._ Drake shook his head. _I can't do that to my friends! I gotta keep fighting…_

"Ha! Is he losing it already?" the Shadow Realm fiend said. "He's weaker than I expected."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I gotta take my turn." Drake contemplated over the contents of his hand. One of the cards caught his eye. _Where did I get this?_ He thought. _I don't remember ever getting that… time to give it a test drive._ "First, I play Pot of Greed! Then, I sacrifice Dark Blade to summon Dark Magician Girl (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2000/1700) and then activate Sage's Stone! With it, I can Special Summon my Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100)!"

"So? He can't harm me."

"Oh, contraire, he can, for now I activate Knight's Title! I sacrifice Dark Magician to Special Summon Dark Magician Knight (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2500/2100)! With his effect, I can destroy one card on the field, like Invader of Darkness!"

"So? Even though he was my best monster, you still can't break through Dark Lucius Lv. 8!"

_Time to use this new card,_ Drake thought. "I activate Magical Union!"

"You activate _what?_"

"Ah, Magical Union." Matt said. "Fun card."

"What does it do?" Flynn asked.

"Just watch."

"I can only activate Magical Union when I have Dark Magician Girl and a Dark Magician variant, like Knight, on the field. Then, I'm allowed to send one Dark Magician from my hand, deck or field to the graveyard, or remove one in my graveyard from play, to special summon another Dark Magician variant. So, I'll send a Dark Magician from my Deck to the graveyard to Special Summon my Dark Magician of Chaos (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2800/2600)!"

"Not him!" groaned the shadow realm fiend.

"Oh, yes it is him, and now, since he has made an appearance, I can recycle one spell card. So, I think I'll bring back this: Monster Reborn! I activate it, and it allows me to bring back my old Dark Blade!"

"But, even if you destroy Dark Lucius, you can't do enough damage to defeat me! Next turn, I'll play my own Monster Reborn, bring back Invader, and destroy you!"

"Not…true." Drake panted. The strain of supporting four monsters had just caught up to him. "I have a monster even better than Lucius."

"All you have is an equal." The fiend snorted. "You can't win."

"Show him!" Drake said. And suddenly, Drake's Dark Magician Girl was flanked by two Dark Magicians and a Magician of Black Chaos. "You forget Dark Magician Girl's special ability. She gains 300 attack points for every Dark Magician or Magician of Black Chaos in the graveyard. So, now she's at 2900…"

"No!"

"Yes." Drake said. "I may still come up short this turn, but you can only destroy one of my monsters. Then, I'll destroy your Invader and end the duel. Or, I can just do it now… by activating an equip spell, United We Stand! I'll use it on Dark Magician of Chaos, and it gives him 800 extra attack and defense points for every face-up monster on my side of the field. So, now that he has…what? Something like 7000 attack points? I can win this turn. Go, Dark Magician Girl, destroy his Dark Lucius!"

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 4100**

"Now, Dark Magician Knight, destroy his Dark Ruler!"

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 4050**

"Dark Blade and Dark Magician of Chaos, attack him directly!"

"No! I can't lose!"

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 0**

As the fiend's life points hit zero, his duel disk arm began to glow. Then, it exploded in a burst of flames and organic material. Drake felt suddenly exhausted, as if he had just run about 15 miles without a break.

"Nice, Drake!" Keith said. Drake slowly walked off the duel stage, barely lifting his feet.

"I'm…tired." He said.

"I would expect you to be. Supporting four monsters in your first Shadow Game is difficult." Matt said. "But we need to get out of here, before more fiends arrive." He walked up to the metal sheet that had sealed one of the exits. He slid a small box-like object out of his pocket and attached it to the door, then pressed a few buttons on it and walked away. "You may want to take cover." Everyone slid behind the duel stage and laid down behind it except Matt. There was an explosion, then a small mushroom cloud, and the door was vaporized.

"What was that?" Drake asked, peeking out from behind the stage. Matt was standing on the duel stage, his hair all blown toward the back of his head by some wind and his face sporting one of the most maniacal grins Drake had ever seen.

"It was one of my special mini-nukes. Very useful stuff. I like the feeling of the wind blowing past my face, so I stand a little bit away. Let's get moving." He moved towards the now-nonexistent door, and pressed a few buttons near another door that had come down. It slid open to reveal a mass of people. One was wearing a blue uniform and raised a rifle. Then he opened fire.


	20. For the Defense of Our State

Chapter 20- For the Defense of Our State

Matt ducked back behind the wall. The man in the blue uniform didn't seem to care. He kept firing his rifle down the hall. Flynn leveled his pistol and braced his hands against the duel stage, then squeezed off one shot. The shot hit the man in the knee, but he didn't go down like a normal man. He continued firing down the hall and almost took Flynn's head off.

"Hit him hard, in the hand!" Matt shouted. "Don't shoot to kill!" Flynn crawled farther down the stage, leveled the pistol again, and squeezed off another shot. This one hit the man in the finger, which shattered. The firing stopped, because by some miracle Flynn had hit him in the trigger finger. Matt rushed out and grabbed the rifle out of the man's hands before he could shift to another finger, then grabbed the man by his colar and lifted him off the ground. Everyone else came out from behind the duel stage. All the other humans that had been behind the blue-unformed man had run away.

"Who are you?" Matt demanded. "Why are you shooting at us? Answer now!"

The man's mouth moved slowly up and down, but no sound came out. Matt, disgusted with the absolute failure of the interrogation, threw him to the ground. "Well, that completes my conclusion that a possessed human cannot talk." He picked up the rifle. The clip was almost completely expended. "Worthless." He threw the rifle over his head. "Let's get out of here." He pulled out his shotgun and walked out the door.

"What was that all about?" Drake asked Julie.

"Before we found you guys, we had found another of those zombie-ish humans. Matt tried to get it to talk, but it wouldn't. He suggested that we find another, and randomly blew the floor up!" she said.

"So, it was a complete accident that he saved all our asses?" Drake asked.

"I suppose you could say that."

"What are you holding?"

"Oh, this?" She held up a key. "This is the master key for the entire building. Matt decided that it would be better than blowing every closed door up. Less property damage, he claimed, would be good when this was over."

"Get down!" Matt shouted from the front, and he dropped to the floor. The others were not far behind him. More rifle shots echoed through the hallway over their heads. Matt leveled his shotgun from the prone position and pulled the triggers. Three of the possessed humans met their maker in the ensuing flak burst. Flynn got lucky and got one in the head with a quick shot. Matt rolled out of the way of a shot and jumped to his feet, then ran forward and impaled the last one on his combat knife.

"Where are all these armed zombie guys coming from?" Keith asked. Matt turned and looked him in the eyes.

"You didn't know that this academy has armed guards?" he asked.

"It does?"

"Yeah. We essentially have our own military. The administrators try to protect our 'secrets' or something like that. But now that I think about it…" Matt trailed off, scratching his hair.

"What's up?" Drake asked.

"Well, to have an army of any kind, there's always a barracks. Maybe we can find it and find something to protect us better than just my shotgun and the pistol."

"But where is it?"

"I don't know. But it shouldn't be hard to find. I mean, how hard is it to find a barracks filled with soldiers and weapons?" Famous last words (well, not really _last_). It took them nearly three hours (and about eight more shotgun shells) before they found it. "Well, that took a little long."

"A little? It's three hours later! Didn't you read that last bit?" Flynn asked.

"Ah, three hours is no time at all in the big picture of things. Julie, hand me the keys."

"Uh…"

"YOU LOST THEM?!?"

"Uh, yeah, I think I did when that last fiend-possessed attacked me." She patted her pockets and pulled out the insides. "Yeah, they're not here…"

"Ah, no matter." Matt said, and kicked down the door. There was no one inside, but there were lots of empty bunks and racks. "Seems to have been cleaned out, but look to see if they took everything." They all spread out, hoping to find something worth finding. Keith, the lucky dog of the bunch, found a full rack of the rifles that the fiend-possesseds had been using, along with a large amount of ammunition. Half the clips were bad, infested by some strange parasite, but they managed to salvage a fair amount of weaponry.

"Awesome." Said Drake, locking a clip into place in his M-24 and pulling out the stock. "This thing rocks!"

"Just make sure that you don't blow someone's head off with it." Keith said, hoisting an M-249 SAW.

"You should talk, Mister Squad-Automatic-Weapon."

"Just chill out, both you guys." Julie said, cocking an M-16. "I don't think any of us will blow anyone's head off."

"We'll just blow the fiend-possesseds away." Flynn said, loading a small cylinder into the breech of his M-203. "Let's roll."

"Yeah." Matt said. He alone had not picked out a new weapon. He claimed that the duck gun was all he needed. Then again, Drake thought, he was pretty dangerous with it, so that might be a valid point. They left the room, new armaments in tow, and set out for…

"Hey, where are we going, anyway?" Julie asked.

"We need to get back to the secret base. I want to know something." Matt said. They turned a corner and ran into… a monster! No, actually, it was just Professor Helen, the resident deck construction expert. But there was a strange force over her. Her eyes were blank and her skin was pale. Her duel disk seemed to have fused with her arm. When she saw them, one of her hands reached out and grabbed Matt by the throat. Then it lifted him from the ground. As Matt struggled violently against the cold hand at his windpipe, Keith got around to the side of Prof. Helen and began hammering away at her elbow with his SAW. Though there was no noticeable physical damage, Prof. Helen (or whatever was controlling her, Drake thought) released Matt and clutched her elbow in pain. Then she pointed at Matt.

"Hey, I'm not dueling someone who does that kind of stuff." He said, massaging his neck. "Pick on someone else."

"No!" came the voice out of Prof. Helen's mouth. But it wasn't her voice. Drake could tell. It had the tinge of the voice of a shadow realm fiend to it. "I want you! I want… your soul!"

"You can't have it." Matt said. "Not by dueling me, at least. Because you haven't a chance in the world of ever defeating me."

"Fine, then." She hissed. "I will challenge one of your friends for your soul, then! And I pick…" She sized up each of them. "...her!"

_No! _Drake thought. _I don't think she's ready for the Shadow Game!_ And from the look of things, neither did Julie. She looked like she was ready to pee in her pants.

"Uh…" said Julie. She looked at Matt, then at Drake, Keith, Flynn, and back to Matt. "Uh, can someone help me out here?"

"No! None of them can help you now… I'll destroy you in a duel, then steal your friend's soul for your failure!" said Helen. She activated her duel disk. "We can do this right here, right now! Let's go!"

Julie reluctantly activated her duel disk. "Okay."

"Let's duel!"


	21. A Risky Decision

Chapter 21- A Risky Decision

"Matt, don't you think it was a bad idea to let Julie do this by herself?" Drake asked. _Why do I even bother asking? _He thought. _It's obvious that it was risky, not dueling for himself. She's got to be the worst duelist in the group. Could the fiend sense that?_

"Obviously it was a risky choice. But I need you all to experience a Shadow Game. I can't be around to protect you from them, nor can I do them for you. In this situation, at least, the Shadow Game cannot be as intense."

"What do you mean?"

"While we are not in the Shadow Realm, a full Shadow Game can only be waged by a wielder of a Millennium Item. Thus, with no Millennium Items floating about, there can be no full-strength Shadow Games waged unless we enter the Shadow Realm. So, I need you all to be prepared at least a little in case we do have to enter the Shadow Realm."

"Oh."

"Let us begin." Said Helen.

"Okay, let's go." Julie said.

Julie: 4000 

**Helen (Possessed): 4000**

"I shall go first." Prof. Helen said. She drew a card. "I set a monster in defense mode, then set a card face-down. I'll end my turn."

"My turn, then!" Julie said, and drew a card. "I activate Card Destruction! With it, we must both discard our entire hands, then draw as many cards as we discarded." She tossed all her cards into the graveyard and drew five new ones. Helen tossed her four cards and drew four more. "And, as I discarded my Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) and Sillva, Warlord Dark of World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400), I get to Special Summon both of them! And I also discarded a Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, so I get to draw a new card." She suddenly froze for a moment and clutched at her heart. "What… is this?"

"Shadow Game, Julie!" Drake said. "Brace yourself."

"Oh, right." She said. "I attack your face-down monster with Sillva!"

"I activate Sakuretsu Armor! This card destroys the monster you just attacked with." Helen said. Sillva exploded, and Julie cried out in pain. Then she regained her composure.

"Ow… okay. So, Goldd, attack her face-down monster!"

"Ha! That was my Man-Eater Bug, which will now destroy your last monster!" Both women cringed in pain as their monsters were destroyed.

"What's going on?" Drake said. "I thought you said that it only hurt to support the monsters, Matt."

"Well, it does, but it also causes you pain when your monster is destroyed, obviously, since it is only by you that they have form. So, though your monster will absorb most of the physical damage…"

"The player will also feel it?" Flynn said.

"Correct."

"That's not good."

"No, it isn't."

"My turn, now?" said Helen. "I summon Insect Knight (Earth/Insect, 1900/1500) in attack mode! Now, Insect Knight, attack her directly!"

Julie: 2100 

**Helen (Possessed): 4000**

Julie cried out in pain again as the attack hit her. Then she coughed up some blood, much to Drake's surprise.

"What the hell? That never happened to me." He said.

"Of course not. You never got attacked directly." Matt said.

"You know, for someone whose soul is on the line, your pretty calm." Flynn said.

"Eh." Matt shrugged. "I'm not that important."

Everyone stared at him. "You're bizarre." Keith said. "Look at all you've done to save us, help us, and yet you say 'I'm not that important.'"

"So? It doesn't matter, focus on the duel."

"It's my turn." Julie said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She drew a card. "I activate… cough…my Graceful Charity spell card. I'll draw three, and discard two…" She slipped two cards into her graveyard. "I discard another Goldd and another Broww. So, I special summon a good monster and get to draw another card. I summon my Cyber Soldier of Dark World (Dark/Machine, 1400/1200) in attack mode. Goldd, attack Insect Knight…"

Julie: 2100 

**Helen: (Possessed): 3600**

"Now… cough…Cyber Soldier, attack directly."

Julie: 2100 

**Helen (Possessed): 2200**

"Okay, I'll set a card… and end my turn…"

"She looks terrible, can't we pull her out?" Keith said.

"No. If you try to get her out of there, the game might kill you to keep itself going. It has to go to conclusion, whatever the cost to the players, unfortunately." Matt said.

"Very well, you puny human, it is now my turn." Helen drew her card. "I summon Pinch hopper in attack mode, but I'm going to play Insecticide and kill all insect-type on the field. And when Pinch hopper is sent to the graveyard, I can special summon any Insect type monster in my hand! So, I special summon my Metal Armored Bug (Earth/Insect, 2800/1500)! Now, destroy the Cyber Soldier!"

Julie: 700 

**Helen (Possessed): 2200**

Julie fell to her knees, completely overwhelmed by the intense pain, and coughed up some more blood.

"She… she's dying…" Drake said, thoroughly disturbed, as Julie continued to cough up blood. "She's going to die in this duel…" Tears welled up in his eyes, and he hurriedly wiped them away. Matt closed his eyes (both of them, Drake could see the movement under the bandages). Julie, who had been looking at the ground, looked up, and seemed to see something in front of her. She reached out her hand and tried to grab something, and, to Drake's (and probably everyone else's, judging from their expressions) grabbed something hanging in the air that Drake couldn't see. The invisible thing helped her to her feet. She staggered, but something caught her, and helped to set her on her feet.

"Ha! Haven't you had enough?" said Helen. "You're going to die with this kind of stupidity."

Julie wiped the blood away from her mouth. "I… am going to win this."

"Ha! Ha! Hahahahahaha…" Helen almost broke down laughing. "You are barely alive, and you think you can win? You have one weak monster, and one facedown card that will never help you, because I'm going to destroy it right now with Mystical Space Typhoo. How can you possibly win?"

"I'm…going to win. I don't know how… but I will. My turn?" Julie drew her card. She stared at it for one moment, then gave another little cough. "I activate Mystic Wok. I'll sacrifice my Goldd to gain 2300 life points.

**Julie:** **3000**

**Helen (Possessed): 2200**

"Gain all the life points you want, because next turn I summon another monster and kill you." Helen said.

"There… isn't going to be another turn for you."

"Huh?"

"I activate my Ritual Spell Card… End of the World…"

"NO!"

"YES!" Keith said. "End of the World! Wait, I've never heard of that card."

"Oh, just wait. It's a fun card." Flynn assured him.

"With End of the World, I have two options. I can Special Summon Demise, the King of Armageddon, or Ruin, Queen of Oblivion. Each has there own merits, but for this situation I'll need Demise. So, I send eight stars' worth of monsters to the graveyard and Special Summon Demise, King of Armageddon (Dark/Fiend/Ritual/Effect, 2400/2000)!"

"So? He's too weak to defeat my Metal Armored Bug?"

"He is? I activate his wonderful special ability. It allows me to pay 2000 life points…"

Julie: 1000 

**Helen (Possessed): 2200**

"…in order to destroy every card on the field but himself."

"No! But that means…"

"Yeah… you lose. Demise, cause this fiend's demise! Attack directly now!"

Julie: 1000 

**Helen (Possessed): 0**

As Helen's life points hit zero, her body collapsed and hit the floor hard. There was a burst of light and an intelligent shadow realm seemed to jump out of Helen's back. His duel disk began to glow just like the first one's, then it exploded and killed the beast. Julie stood still for a moment, then wavered and began to fall. Matt caught her.

"You did fine." He said gently. "Are you okay?" She groaned and went limp. Matt lowered her to the ground. "She'll be okay. She's just sleeping. She's been through a terrible ordeal."

"Yeah, I'll say, and you're the one who put her through it!" Drake said. "If you had just dueled for yourself, then she wouldn't have almost died like that!"

"I realize that you are angry at me. I would say that your anger is at least partially justified. But she needed to experience it. She may have to do it again. So might all of you. I need you to be ready. Here, at least, I can help you. You saw what happened after she had run out of endurance."

"Huh?" Keith said. "What are you talking about?"

"When she was down… near death, she looked up, remember? I called her name."

"What are you talking about? You lost us." Flynn said. "You never said anything to her. You never left your position right here."

"I physically didn't. But my spirit did. I sent my spirit out there… to give her the strength to go on, when all hope was lost and she couldn't take any more."

"_What?_ How the hell do you do that?"

"I have acquired a few nifty little tricks here and there." Matt said evasively. "But now is not the time to talk about it. While we are here, we are vulnerable. We need to get out of here. We have two bodies to haul."

"_Two?_ Oh, right." Keith noticed the prone form of Helen. "You want to get her out of here?"

"Yeah. That way, they can't re-possesses her." Matt reached down and scooped up Julie's body again. "Someone else will have to take Helen."

"I'll do it." Flynn said. He slung his M-203 and hoisted Helen's limp form over his shoulder. "Let's roll."

"Yes, let's."


	22. A Little Nostalgia

Chapter 22- A Little Nostalgia

Thankfully they did not encounter any more fiend-possessed humans (or any fiends themselves) on their way out of the building. They wouldn't have been able to defend themselves from the aforementioned very well, with Matt hauling Julie's limp form along and Flynn burdened with Prof. Helen's. The front door had been blown to tiny shards of glass that littered the ground in front of them.

"I hope they know that it's rude to knock down someone's front door." Keith said.

"Uh, Keith, I don't think they care." Drake said.

"Good point." They turned a corner and cut into the forest. Matt stopped them.

"I need a break." He said. "I'm… not as young as I used to be."

"What are you talking about? You can't be that old." Drake said.

"I'm coming onto thirty pretty fast. You have to realize, I'm just as old as Yugi Motou or Seto Kaiba."

"Oh. I didn't know that. But that's still pretty young."

"When you've been through as much as I have been through, it wears on you really fast. I doubt I'll live past fifty." He gently lowered Julie's body to the grass. "Take a break, Flynn." Flynn gladly dropped Helen's body. Matt sat down. "Ah, I never thought I'd see the day when the Shadow Realm came into our world again."

"What do you mean?" Drake asked. "This has happened before?"

"Well, not exactly this, but, of course, you know the story of Marik and all that jazz, how he used the Shadow Games to fight his way to the top and try to become king of the world and stuff. It's kind of the same here, but this time we don't really know the motivation behind it." Matt ran his hand through his messy hair. "I was watching from the shadows, and almost got involved. I ended up dueling a ton of the Rare Hunters, and by some anti-miracle almost half of those were Shadow Games. So I got to experience all of the pain and suffering you guys are going through."

"Wow. I never knew that you were actually that old." Flynn said.

"Yeah, and I must admit that I wish that it was that way now. At least back then we were fighting humans, not these inhuman fiends." For a while there was silence. Then an intelligent shadow realm fiend jumped out of the darkness!

There was a sudden burst of motion as everyone scrambled for their weapons. The fiend took advantage of the momentary chaos to knock both Drake and Keith down, effectively separating them from their weapons. Flynn leveled his M-203 only to have it knocked out of his hands by the beast. Matt drew a bead on the creature with his duck gun, and pulled one trigger. A few pellets hit the fiend, but overall it did little damage to it and could not stop the fiend from yanking the shotgun out of his hands. Noticing that they all had no guns, the fiend turned to the prone forms of Helen and Julie. Matt tried to do something, but the fiend (almost lazily) grabbed him and threw him up against a tree. After seeing this, Drake, Keith, and Flynn all felt that there was nothing that they could do anymore. They watched helplessly as the monster grabbed Julie's inanimate body and lifted it from the ground.

A kid in a hoody jumped seemingly out of nowhere and landed on the monster's shoulders. He shoved a pistol down the creature's throat and pulled the trigger. Drake saw a huge lump begin to make its way down the fiend's throat. Startled, the fiend dropped Julie's body. The hoody kid jumped down, grabbed both bodies, and jumped away from the fiend. The fiend exploded, showering everyone in blood and guts.

Matt had just regained consciousness after losing it from the impact against the tree. He walked unsteadily back towards them, shaking his head. Then he looked up and noticed the hoody kid and the bloody mess on the ground (or all over it, to be exact).

"Grenade pistol?" he asked. The hoody kid nodded, grinning. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"I'm Adam; I can be anywhere I want to be." He said. "I'll just leave you here, then, knowing that I saved your ass again." Adam set the bodies down and jumped away. Drake heard another explosion in the distance.

"Who was that?" Drake asked.

"That was an old friend of mine. Good thing he came along, otherwise we would have been screwed." Matt said, retrieving his double-barreled shotgun. "Grab your stuff. We need to get out of here." Everyone retrieved his weapon, and they set out through the woods again. Matt seemed to still be a bit unsteady, tottering even more than before under the burden of Julie's weight.

"Matt? Are you okay?" Drake asked.

"Just a bit unsteady." He said. "Don't worry, I've been through worse." They continued on their way, finally arriving at Matt's secret base. Matt threw open the door and they all climbed down.


	23. A Way to Win the War

Chapter 23- A Way to Win the War

"Brooklyn!" Matt shouted. "You better have what I asked for ready!"

"Uh…" Drake could hear Brooklyn scampering around below them.

"That's what I thought!" Matt had reached the bottom of the ladder. Drake was right behind him. Brooklyn was frantically searching for something, but he looked up to see Matt.

"Wow, a casualty already? This is more bloody than I thought!" Brooklyn said.

"She isn't dead. Open the door, you moron." Brooklyn grabbed a doorknob that Drake hadn't noticed before and pulled a door open. There were a couple of white cots in the room, as well as some good medical equipment.

"You have a medical center down here?" Drake asked.

"Of course. I knew I might need something like this eventually… whether it was for me or for someone else was a moot point." Matt lay Julie's body on one of the cots. "Ah, that's better. She just needs some rest."

Flynn came in a set Helen's body on another cot. "So, we just leave them here?"

"Yeah. Except if Julie wakes up, we'll take her with us. We need as many experienced people as we can get. And when I say experienced, I mean people who have played a Shadow Game before." He turned towards the door. "Brooklyn! You had better have those things I wanted ready when I get out there." There was a loud and frantic-sounding shuffling outside. Matt smiled evilly and walked out the door. Brooklyn handed him a set of papers. "Damn it, Brooklyn, these are papers on the production of Swiss Cheese in Ireland!"

"Uh…" Brooklyn flipped through a few more papers. "Ah! Here's what you wanted." He handed them to Matt. Matt tossed the other papers over his shoulder and began to read the second set.

"What's that?" Keith asked.

"Some documents on suggested methods for winning this little game."

"Game? Who are you kidding?"

"No one. Everyone in the Shadow Realm thinks of everything as a game." He flipped through the packet. His eye narrowed. "You can't be serious, Brooklyn."

"About what?" Chris looked over Matt's shoulder. "Oh, that. Well, uh, that was the only thing I could think of. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, obviously not that. I thought we could just blow the arches up or something. This is a pretty drastic measure."

"Yeah. I thought so too, and so did S.C.A.N. and D.A.N. But they both said that it was the only way. Otherwise, these creatures could come infinitely."

"Scan and Dan? Who are they?" Keith asked, looking around as though he expected to see someone else in the room. Matt laughed.

"Oh, S.C.A.N. and D.A.N. are the supercomputer programs that me and my buddy wrote."

"Adam?"

"No, another Matt."

"Oh."

"By the way, Matt, what do we have to do?" Drake asked.

"Unfortunately, we have to actually enter the shadow realm to end this."

"WHAT?!?" They all shouted in unison.

"Yeah. Not a fun thing to do. But there is a good thing… at least all those people we 'killed' aren't going to be hurt at all."

"Come again?" Flynn said.

"Well, we have to go to the Shadow Realm, confront whoever is running this scheme, and vaporize him. As it turns out, there is someone or something in the Shadow Realm directing these attacks. Every time we kill a fiend, it doesn't actually die, but it returns to the Shadow Realm, and is reborn there. Every one of them."

"Fantastic. So we're fighting essentially infinite forces?"

"Correct. But! If we kill the mastermind, then his forces cannot come back. Then, we simply break the seal on the vault of souls, and everything is back to normal."

"Hang on, what about the people who we killed while they were possessed?" Drake asked.

"While it's a debatable thing, we…" he gestured to the computers around him and Brooklyn. "…believe that when the undamaged soul returns to the body, even if the body is almost completely destroyed, the body will be restored."

"Oh, good." Drake said. "I'd hate to have to explain all this to the government or something like that."

"I hear you, Drake." Keith said. "Talking to the feds is a right pain."

"Is that all?" Flynn asked.

"No, unfortunately. As some of us maybe guessed, every time we kill a fiend, it becomes smarter. As you saw back in the forest, the fiend reacted better to our tactics than any of his compatriots. And that also means that the intelligent ones will become better at dueling."

"Oh, lovely."

"Yes, it's an annoying problem. Unfortunately, this also presents another problem: if we do get to the mastermind, he can simply surround himself with all of his soldiers, no matter how many we kill, they will simply re-spawn right by him, effectively forming an indestructible barrier between him and us."

"But!" Brooklyn said, glancing down at a paper that had just printed out. "I have discovered a weakness!" Matt looked surprised.

"Wow, Brooklyn, you've actually done something useful for once! What is this mastermind's weakness?" he said.

"He likes to gamble. Just bet something against him in any game and he will accept."

"Ah, gambling. It is a vice I see all the time."

"Of course, he only accepts when the odds are in his favor."

"Naturally. Is that all you've got?"

"Yeah. I'll tell you when and if I get something else."

"Good. Everyone ready?" Everyone nodded. "Alright. That's good. You should always be ready for anything. Let's check on Julie and then we'll get going." They all walked back into the little medical center. Julie was still unconscious, but she was breathing easily and did not appear to be in any pain. Drake looked over at Helen.

"What are we going to do if she wakes up?" Drake asked.

"She can't." Matt said flatly.

"Huh?"

"She hasn't got a soul, Drake." Flynn said. "How can she exist?"  
"True, I never thought of it like that." Julie gave a little cough and sat up. She looked around, dazed and confused.

"What happened?" she asked. "Where am I? I thought I was dead… did you guys all die too?" She coughed again and spat up some more blood.

"No, you're not dead." Matt said. "You came off on a the bad end of a Shadow Game, but you survived. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. I feel a little tired, but I should be okay."

"Do you feel well enough to come with us again, fully knowing all that such entails?"

"Yes." She gave another little cough but thankfully did not spit up anymore blood. "Yes, I think I'm ready." She climbed off the cot. Matt smiled again.

"Good. Now we can go end this."


	24. On the Road to the End

Chapter 24- On the Road to the End

They all climbed the ladder out of the base, Matt in front, Flynn in back.

"Exactly where are we going anyway?" Julie asked.

"Oh, yes, you weren't with us when we spoke about that. We have to go to the Shadow Realm in order to end this."

"Oh, great."

"Yes, it's not much fun."

"Hang on, how do we get to the Shadow Realm?" Drake asked.

"Pick a gate, any gate." Keith suggested.

"Okay, how do we get back?"

"We'll figure that out when we end this invasion." Matt said.

"Isn't that kind of irrational?" Flynn said. "Why would we go somewhere we can't leave?"

"We are expendable, if we can stop the invasion. If we must spend the rest of our days in the Shadow Realm, it will be a small price to pay for the salvation of humanity from the powers of the Shadows."

"Kind of a grim sentiment."

"Don't worry, I doubt we won't be able to leave." They finished climbing the long ladder and filed out of the pit. There was a large array of fiends waiting for them.

"Oh, great." Drake said. The only place where he had seen more fiends in one place was in Keith's deck, and this was contesting even that.

"Surrender now! We have you surrounded! You cannot escape!" said one intelligent fiend. It seemed rather proud of itself for having caught them in such a bad place.

"Hardly." Matt said. He hadn't even raised his shotgun. "On the contrary, I have you right where I want you." He gave the metal door they had just come out of a good kick. "Brooklyn!" There was a series of metal clicking sounds, but nothing happened. The fiends laughed.

"That didn't do anything! What are you going to do now?" The intelligent fiend asked.

"GET DOWN!" Matt said, seconds before it started. As Drake hit the dirt, he heard the telltale sounds of bullets whizzing over his head. All the fiends were ripped to shreds by whatever was shooting, except of course the intelligent one who had ducked too and wouldn't have been killed anyway. Matt stood up again and everyone followed suit. The fiend glared at him.

"You asshole…"

"Oh, come on, like I'd let you take us alive?" Matt said. "Of course I'll go down fighting."

"Then I'll duel you right here, right now!" the fiend said, and activated its duel disk.

"Oh, fine. Be prepared for total annihilation, though." Matt said. He activated his duel disk.

"I thought you said you wanted us to experience these shadow games?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, Matt, neither Keith nor I have ever been in one." Flynn pointed out.

"I know, but after saying things like that I have to duel. To trash talk someone and then decline their challenge is bad policy." Matt said. He returned his attention to the fiend.

"Let's duel!"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I shall begin!" said the fiend. "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Very well, then. My turn." Matt said, and drew his card. He smiled. "I activate a field spell card… Council of the Old Guys Named Jeb! This potent field spell grants all Spellcaster-type monsters an extra 300 attack and defense, as well as giving all my Mpire monsters 200 extra points. But that's not all. You see, with their combined wisdom, the Jebs can see into the future. So, every three turns, starting with this turn, I can look at the top three cards of my deck and re-arrange them in any way I wish."

"Nasty." Keith said. "That basically allows him to create a strategy much faster than his opponent."

"I doubt that you'll last much longer." Matt admitted. "Because now I'm going to activate my Mpirian Speed Summon. Instead of summoning or setting a monster this turn, this card allows me to normal summon two Mpirians from my hand. So, I think I will summon my Old Guy Named Jeb (Light/Spellcaster/Mpire/Effect, 1900/1800) and my Mpirian Fire Mage (Fire/Spellcaster/Effect, 1700/1000)."

" 'I doubt you'll last much longer'? Ha! You couldn't break my defense if you tried! Not with those two monsters, especially when one is a weak old man."

"Check again. His body may be frail but his magic is strong."

"1900 attack points! I'll say that his magic's still got some punch." Drake said.

"And also, since I summoned Jeb while the Council of the Old Guys Named Jeb was on the field, I can special summon two more Jebs from my deck. And, furthermore, they all gain 500 attack and defense points thanks to the council."

"So? My defensive monster can still protect me."

"I'm not done yet! Thanks to their incredible knowledge and wisdom, the Old Guys Named Jeb grant all Spellcaster-type monsters who are not named "Old Guy Named Jeb" an extra 200 points! So that gives all of my Old Guys 2400 attack points and it gives my Fire Mage, hm, let's see… 2800!"

"Wow. That's a lot of attack points on the field at the beginning of the game." Flynn said.

"Yeah, and a lot of monsters to support in a Shadow Game." Keith said.

"But look at him. He's fine." Flynn said. Drake thought he had a point. Though he had almost as many monsters as was possible on his side of the field, Matt didn't seem to be struggling to support them at all. In fact, he looked much better than he normally did.

"Okay, now that we have established how much power I have, Mpirian Fire Mage, destroy his monster!"

"Ha! That was my Unhappy Maiden! Now your Battle Phase ends!"

"Oh, darn. And I thought Matt had him." Julie said.

"Very well. I'll just have to wait a turn for my Old Guys to introduce themselves to you. But, a question first- do I smell an Exodia Deck?" Matt said.

"Huh? Where's he getting that?" Drake asked.

"Only a stall player plays a card like 'The Unhappy Maiden,' and since he just played one, it is a reasonable to assume that he plays a card like Exodia to win the game."

"Ha! Even if you know what I'm going to play, you can't stop him! I have four pieces already, and there is no where for you to prevent his appearance."

"Another question- do you feel lucky? For I set a face-down and end my turn."

"There isn't a card in the world that can stop Exodia! I draw." He drew a card. "I summon Witch of the Black Forest (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1100/1200) and I attack your Old Guy Named Jeb! And when she's destroyed, I'll pull the last piece of Exodia from my deck and win!"

"Not yet!" Matt gave a dramatic gesture over his facedown. "I activate Request For Advice! I can only activate this card when there is both 'Old Guy Named Jeb' and 'Council of the Old Guys Named Jeb' face-up on the field. Then, you flip a coin and call it. If you call it right, then you can activate an effect. I'll elaborate on those later. But if you call it wrong, then I get to use an effect."

"Okay!" The fiend conjured a coin out of midair and flipped it in the air. "Heads!" It called. Drake thought that time seemed to slow down as the coin rotated slowly through the air. Then it came down at last and the fiend caught it, then flipped it onto the back of his hand. The fiend kept his hand over it for almost a minute, then slowly pulled it away. "NO!" The coin had come up tails.

"Alright, then. Let's get to the effects. For every 'Old Guy Named Jeb' on the field, I can either destroy one card on the field, draw one card, special summon one monster from my hand, or, the big kicker, force you to toss one card from your hand!"

"No!"

"So, since I have three Old Guys, I force you to toss three cards from your hand!" Three pieces of Exodia went from the fiend's hand to the graveyard. "And, since that card did not stop your attack, you must continue!"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 2700**

"I still get to bring a monster to my hand!"

"So? You can't summon it."

"Oh." The fiend pulled a monster to his hand. "Your turn."

"I draw." Matt drew. "Now, all my monsters, obliterate him!"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 0**

"I win." The fiend's duel disk began to glow, and then it exploded, killing the fiend. Matt wiped the little drop of sweat from his brow, and turned back to the others. "Let's roll."

"You just pulled out a potentially disastrous victory, and that's all you can say?" Keith said.

"Well, what else is there to say?"


	25. Enter the Shadow Realm

Chapter 25- Enter the Shadow Realm

"Well, let's get going." Matt said.

"Where are we going?" Julie asked.

"Where's the nearest arch?" Matt replied.

"Oh, I think it's over that way. Why?"

"That's where we're going."

"Just a thought…what's the Shadow Realm like?" Drake asked.

"Hm… that's a good question. Supposedly it's a little different for everyone that goes there. But that's when they're sent there by the wielder of a millennium item. So, it's debatable about what it actually looks like when you actually just visit it. Hang on…" Matt looked around.

"How did you kill all those fiends?" Keith said.

"Oh, there's a chaingun behind us. It's imbedded in the ground. I told Brooklyn to activate it and he basically mowed down all of them without even having to come up. Okay, we should be clear. I don't think there's anything left around here." Matt unslung his duck gun and walked through the trees. The others followed him.

They walked around through the trees for nearly half an hour without finding the arch. "Shouldn't we be there by now?" Drake asked.

"Yes, we should. I think we got lost somewhere. No matter, I have a way to find it." Matt said.

"How?" Flynn asked.

Matt reached his left hand up to the bandages covering his left eye and pulled them up. For a moment his eye remained closed. Drake noticed that it was scared and seemed to have multiple purple veins branching out from the center. Then the eye opened. Drake noticed that everyone who could see it recoiled in disgust. The iris was an almost white-purple, and it was filled with blood. The pupil wasn't even black; it was actually an off-green color that reminded Drake of puke. The purple veins came through the "white' of the eye (which was actually red) and connected to the iris.

"Ugh!" Julie said. She turned around and threw up on a tree. Matt's eye began roaming about. After a few seconds he nodded and pointed.

"There's an arch that way." He said.

"What the hell happened to you?" Keith said. "Now I know why you keep it covered."

"Oh, this happened a while ago. I call it my shadow eye, because it can sense the presence of Shadow Realm energies, Shadow Games, things like that. Otherwise I'm completely blind in this eye. However, it does have other useful functions. Such as allowing me to strike panic into people just by looking at them. You've seen that one twice now. You've seen its other powers as well." Matt scratched his chin. "I'll just leave it uncovered for now. It'll make it easier to locate the fiends."

"How so?"

"I told you it senses Shadow Realm energies. That extends to fiends, too." And, to prove his point, it seemed, a fiend dropped from a tree. He hadn't even hit the ground before Matt had let him have it with the shotgun. Matt reloaded and shot another fiend who had just begun to fall out of a tree. "See?" He shoved two more shells into the breech of his shotgun. "Now they can't surprise us."

"Let's get going then. I'd rather we get this shadow realm debacle over with sooner rather than later." Flynn said. Matt nodded his agreement and they set off again. They did not encounter any other fiends until they had reached the gate that Matt had detected.

"Wow, that's a lot of fiends in one place." Drake said. "How many do you count? 'Cause I've got about fifty."

"Sixty." Matt said. "Six rows. Ten fiends in each row."

"Yeah. How do we punch through that?" Keith asked.

"We use tactics." Flynn suggested.

"Adam's grenade pistol would come in handy right now." Julie said. "Why don't we give him a call? He could be here in seconds, according to his logic."

Matt smiled wryly. "There are two problems with that. One is that Adam rarely listens to me. The second is that I have no means of contacting him."

"Oh."

"We could find another arch." Drake suggested.

"I don't want to take the chance of finding more fiends at that one or giving the fiends more time to plan a further assault on us. No, we have to break through. Besides, to get to all the other gates we'd have to wade through at least this many fiends just to get there. There's no concealed route to any of the other arches. So, here's what we do- we snipe them from here. Long range shots, one and all. They have no weapons unless they've changed their tactics, and even if they have, I don't think they can find us in here very quickly. Keith, give them hell with that SAW, you have 200 rounds in a clip, I want to see 200 bullet shells on the ground. Drake, Julie, single shots, I want to see heads exploding. Flynn, you have at least one grenade, I want to see nice big explosions out there. As for me, well, I can't really do anything from this range. So, take aim." Four guns were leveled. Flynn flipped the little sight on the front of his gun up and angled it up. "Now, open fire!" Two fiends were instantly killed as a result of head shots by Julie and Drake. Several more were blown to tiny pieces by Flynn's launched grenade. About eight were torn to shreds by Keith's (appropriately named) SAW. The rest looked around stupidly. Drake took aim at another and pulled the trigger. His stomach squirmed a little as the fiend's head exploded. Strange, he couldn't remember it doing that before. He noticed that the others seemed to be having similar problems with the repulsiveness of their actions.

Matt noticed. He jumped out of the grave of trees and like some kind of hero ran out towards the fiend horde. Both barrels of his shotgun flashed as four more fiends went down. He turned back to the others as he reloaded.

"Come on!" he shouted. "Fight!" Drake was overcome by a fit of weakness. Apparently the constant combat was wearing on him. Flynn managed to reload his grenade launcher but seemed afraid to use it. Matt groaned. "Worthless!" He turned back to the horde and fired two more shells into the crowd. Six more fiends went down. Matt was now backing up, slamming two more shells into the breech of his shotgun. He leveled the shotgun again, ready to pull the triggers, when the fiends reached him. One raised its claw, ready to strike, when Matt clocked it up the side of the head with the butt of the shotgun. Another came at him from the left. Matt slipped under its claw strike, shoved the barrels of the shotgun down its throat, and pulled one of the triggers. The fiends' guts were instantly no longer in his body. By now, though, the fiends had surrounded Matt. He unloaded the second shell into another fiend, but the shear numbers allowed them to best him. One of them slashed him across the face with enough force to knock him to the ground, blood pouring from the cuts. Another fiend kicked him in the head while he was on the ground.

Matt didn't get up. There was still blood gushing out of his face, and his nose looked broken from the kick. The fiends laughed, then picked up his body and walked through the arch. Flynn came back to his senses first.

"Oh, God. We are screwed. He was the only one who knew what was going on." Flynn said. "We have to do something though."

"What? As you said, Matt was the only one who knew what was going on." Keith said.

"Simple. We follow them through the gate."

"Okay, sarge. Whatever you say." Drake said. "Only problem is, none of us know what the hell we're supposed to be doing."

"Look, we have to do something! We can't just sit around and wait for the fiends to take over!" Flynn said.

"I know…" Drake said. "So we all agree that we should jump first, ask questions later?"

"Sure. I'm with 'sarge' on this one." Keith said. Flynn gave Keith a nasty look. "Hey, you were in the marines, and you're the most commanding of all of us. You may as well be sarge."

"I'm with you guys." Julie said. "Matt basically saved my life back in my first shadow game. I need to pay him back."

"Right then." Flynn said, and pulled on the bolt on his 203. It snapped back into place with an ominous click. Drake reloaded his M-24, and Julie snapped a new clip into place in her M-16. Keith removed the box from his 249 and replaced it. "Ready?" They all nodded and ran through the arch, the entrance to the shadow realm.


	26. A Full Shadow Game

Chapter 26- A Full Shadow Game

As soon as he moved under the arch, the scenery around them changed. The hard gray stone of the Duel Academy campus vanished and was replaced with some kind of strange purple liquid. The sky vanished and was replaced by a solid black ceiling. There were no walls, as far as Drake could see, but the floor seemed to vanish into nothingness after you walked a little ways.

"Okay, what do we do now?" Drake asked.

"Well, we could follow this path and try to find Matt. Then we can go back to the original mission." Flynn suggested.

"Right." Keith said. Julie leveled her rifle and took the head off a fiend who had been slowly advancing on them.

"Let's go." She said. They began to move forward when Drake noticed something red on the ground.

"Hey… isn't that… blood? Wasn't Matt bleeding when they toke him?" Drake said.

"Yeah, but we just killed a fiend, so it's probably his blood." Flynn said.

"That's true, but the trail extends all the way over there." Drake pointed to a path that was visible through the blackness of the Shadow Realm.

"Let's go that way then." Flynn said. They walked in peace for about fifteen minutes, without encountering a fiend, before they finally found the beginning of the path. But when they reached it, one of the intelligent fiends appeared from nowhere and blocked their path. He wore what looked like a key around his neck.

"Trying to find your lost friend?" he taunted. "You'll have to get past me, the Keeper of the Vault, to find him. And I doubt you can do that." Each of them looked at the other.

"Who wants to duel him?" Keith asked.

"I'll do it." Drake said. He turned back to the fiend. "Alright, big and ugly, let's do this.

"Let's duel!"

Drake: 4000 

**Keeper: 4000**

"I'll go first!" said Drake. "I set a monster in defense mode, and add a face-down card. That ends my turn." Drake felt the usual strain of supporting a monster in a shadow game, but this time it seemed much more powerful.

"Heh. Let's see if you can survive a full-power shadow game." The Keeper said. He drew a card. "I summon Celtic Guardian (Earth/Warrior, 1400/1200) in attack mode! Then, I equip him with Butterfly Dagger- Elma! With this, my Guardian gains 300 attack points! Now, attack his monster!"

"I activate Book of Moon! This flips your monster into defense mode! And now, Butterfly Dagger goes to your graveyard!"

"Grr… I end my turn."

"Fine then, my turn!" Drake drew his card. "I flip summon my White Ninja (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1500/800), and when he's flipped, I get to destroy one defense position monster on the field! So, your face-down Celtic Guardian is gone!"

The fiend snarled. "You cheat…"

"No, I'm just good like that. I now attack directly!"

Drake: 4000 

**Keeper: 2500**

"I end my turn."

"And I begin mine!" The Keeper drew his card. "I summon Winged Dragon- Guardian of the Fortress #1 (Wind/Dragon, 1400/1200) and I equip it with Gravity Axe- Grarl! This gives it 500 more attack points and prevents you from changing your monster's battle position! Now, I activate Twin Swords of Flashing Light- Tryce! I must discard a card to activate this, and reduce the attack of the monster I equip it to by 500 points, but then it can attack twice! Now, since I only have one card in my hand, I special summon Guardian Grarl (Earth/Dinosaur/Effect, 2500/1000) in attack mode!"

"Wait-what?" Drake said, bewildered.

"When he is the only card in my hand, I can special summon Grarl without a tribute. Now, Grarl, crush that stupid Ninja!"

Drake: 3000 

**Keeper: 2500**

"And now, Winged Dragon, attack him directly twice!"

Drake: 200 

**Keeper: 2500**

"Owwww!" yelled Drake as the Dragon's fireballs hit him. He fell to his knees, screaming from the intense pain. Now Drake knew why Julie had collapsed during her duel- the pain from one direct attack was enough to make him want to quit. But then he remembered Matt. _I can't give up now!_ He thought. He coughed up some blood onto the ground. _But man, this hurts._ His limbs trembling, Drake slowly stood up. _It feels like I've got no energy left._ He thought. _I need to wrap this up, and quick._ The strength in his legs vanished and he staggered. Something caught him. He looked up to see who it was, and was absolutely astonished when he did.

Matt was holding him. It wasn't exactly Matt, the bandages were gone, his eye was restored, and he was actually good looking, from a male standpoint. He wasn't wearing his usual slightly torn jeans and deceptively baggy T-shirt, either, he was wearing some kind of white robe. He seemed to radiate light. Drake had thought that Julie had been hallucinating when she said she had seen Matt holding her in her first shadow game, but now Drake knew that she hadn't been lying.

_Either that or I've just gone crazy,_ Drake thought.

_You haven't gone crazy,_ Matt's voice assured him. It came from the Matt-spirit and had a sort of ethereal tinge to it. _Now, brace yourself like a man, stand up straight, and either beat the tar out of this guy or go down fighting like a hero!_ The Matt-spirit drifted away, as if blown away by a non-existent wind. Drake felt new strength, more strength than he had ever felt before. He looked the Keeper in the eyes.

"My turn." He said. The Keeper looked shocked that Drake could even think about standing, much less speak.

"You should be dead after that! There's no way you could have survived that last attack. Ah, no matter, on my next turn, I'll deplete your life points and end your life!"

"No, you won't." Drake drew his card. _Where did this come from?_ He wondered. _Matt must have messed with my deck or something._ _Oh well._ "I summon Mpirian Warrior!"

"You summon a what?!?" The Keeper said. "I've never heard of that card, and I've been dueling forever!"

"You had better keep up with the times, then! This guys pretty good. (Light/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 1500/1200) When he's summoned, he allows me to special summon his friends, two more Mpirian Warriors!"

"So? You can't break through! I'll kill you next turn."

"No, because every Mpirian Warrior gains 100 attack points for every other Mpire monster on my side of the field."

"So…?"

"Okay, good point, they all only have 1700, so I'll play Pot of Greed." _Another card I've never seen!_ Drake thought after checking the two cards. _Still, I can use it._ "I activate my spell card, Mpirian Soul Empower!"

"What?!?"

"This is a very powerful spell card. First, I choose one Mpire monster on my side of the field. So, I choose the first Warrior I summoned! Then, I remove all monsters in my Graveyard from play! So, I remove my White Ninja… and my Mpirian Warrior gains his attack and defense points!"

"No! That puts him over Grarl!"

"Got that right! And due to his special effect, if I special summon an Mpirian Warrior with Mpirian Warrior's effect, then all increases to attack and defense to the first Mpirian Warrior are applied to the others! So that gives me three monsters with 3200 attack points!"

"NO!!!!!!!!!!! It can't be!"

"But it is! Mpirian Warrior! Destroy Grarl!"

Drake: 200 

**Keeper: 1800**

"And with this next strike, I win! Mpirian Warrior #2, destroy his Winged Dragon!"

Drake: 200 

**Keeper: 0**

The Keeper gave a shout of anguish. His duel disk began to glow, and it exploded. All that was left of him was the key he had worn around his neck. Drake felt the thrill of victory for a passing second, then the incredible strength departed from him, and he blacked out.


	27. Moving On

Chapter 27- Moving On

"Drake! Drake! Are you okay? Drake! Wake up!" a voice came from somewhere Drake couldn't see. Actually, he couldn't see anything, because he was still hovering somewhere in between consciousness and unconsciousness. Someone was shaking him. He felt sore all over. His heart hurt most of all. He felt only marginally better from when he had collapsed. He still felt as if he had no energy. "Drake! Wake up!"

With an incredible amount of effort Drake opened his eyelids. Julie was shaking him, and Keith and Flynn were kneeling next to him. "Ughh… what's going on?"

"Oh, you just collapsed and went unconscious. Nothing huge." Keith said facetiously. "Just your everyday thing. How do you feel?"

"I feel terrible." Drake sat up and looked into Julie's eyes with immense purpose. "You know what you said about Matt helping you in your Shadow Game?"

"He came to you too?" she asked.

"What the hell are you taking about?" Flynn said. "I never saw Matt or anything that looked like him anywhere near you."

"No, seriously, he was there!" Drake said. "I swear!"

"Bull shit." Flynn said.

"How would Matt get here anyway? He's either dead or locked up somewhere." Keith said.

"I know what I saw. How else would I have been able to win? After those last two direct attacks, how could I have had the strength to go on?" Drake asked. No one answered. "So? What do we do now, Sarge?"

"I don't know!"

"Wait… what about the Keeper's key?" Julie asked. The mentioned object was lying on the floor. Drake picked it up and hung it around his neck.

"Wasn't he the Keeper of the Vault?" Keith asked.

"Didn't Matt mention a vault of souls?" Sarge asked.

"Yeah, he did. You think this is the key?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, it probably is. Though I don't know why they would bother sending him at us. Wouldn't they want to keep the key safe somewhere, somewhere hidden, where it would be hard to find, so we would never get it?" Sarge said.

"That would be the logical course of action." Said Keith. "It seems that whoever is leading these guys lacks a logical thought process."

"Yeah." For a moment there was silence. Again Drake raised the million-dollar question. "What do we do now?"

"Well, we may as well go down this path." Flynn said. "If you haven't noticed, the one behind us mysteriously vanished after that duel."

"Whoa! I didn't see that." Drake said. "Let's roll." He checked that his M-24 was loaded and set it to auto. "Something tells me we'll have to fight our way out of this hell."

Flynn snapped his 203 up and set it to burst fire. "Got that right. Let's go." They began to walk along the path. As they went on, Drake noticed that the path they had walked along was vanishing. He mentioned this to Julie.

"Yeah, I noticed. By the way, what did Matt look like to you back there?" she asked.

"Well, all those bandages were gone, and his eye was fixed. On top of that, he was actually good-looking, and he wore all white." Drake replied. "Why?"

"Because that's how he looked for me too. But how did he change like that? We should ask him when we find him."

"If we find him." Drake pointed out.

"We'll find him." Julie didn't seem very convinced that she was right about it. "He's a tough guy." Still not a very convincing tone, though, Drake thought. At that moment, several of the brute force fiends dropped from the ceiling and surrounded them. To Drake's surprise they were armed.

"OH SHIT!" Drake heard Flynn yell. "GET DOWN!" Drake threw himself to the ground, steadied his rifle, and cut down one of the fiends. A random spam shot hit him in the leg. He twitched convulsively into a sort of fetal position, clutching his bleeding leg. He managed to grit through the pain and take down the fiend. The others seemed to be having more luck. In a short time all the fiends had been killed. Blood flowed freely from the wound in Drake's leg.

"Great." Said Keith when he noticed. "Now Drake can't go anywhere."

"I'll be fine." Drake said through gritted teeth. He tried to stand up but his leg just wouldn't hold his weight. He fell back down.

"Who are you kidding?" Flynn said. "We can't help you here. We don't know anything about medical treatment."

"Er, I know a little." Julie admitted.

"Can you fix a gunshot wound?"

"I can try. I need some strips of cloth or something." Flynn tore the sleeves of his shirt off.

"There's your cloth. Get to work!" He said. For the next ten minutes Drake sat with his back to a wall (Keith and Flynn had dragged him over and set him up), gritting his teeth against the pain and occasionally letting out an involuntary scream when Julie touched a particularly tender point. After that time Julie had removed the bullet and wrapped the wound in the cloth from Flynn's shirt. Drake stood up gingerly. The leg still hurt but it would now take his weight. Julie had done a good job.

"That probably won't hold for long." Julie admitted. "You have to go easy on it for a while."

"Let's get going again." Drake said. They began moving again, Drake limping along at the back. They wandered through the Shadow realm for what felt like an hour, finally ending up at a long hall lined with doors. The doors seemed to be made of metal, very heavy thick stuff, and locked shut. A thin line of blood lead to one of the doors.

"That's got to be where Matt is!" Keith said.

"Tautology." Flynn said.

"What?"

"Stating the obvious."

"Oh." Flynn walked up to the door and pulled on the handle. It was locked, of course.

"Back off." Julie said. She walked up to the door and stuck something into the keyhole, then ran away. An explosion rocked the hallway. The door was blown clean off its hinges. "A little explosive that Matt gave me."

"I see." Flynn said, and walked towards the door. An intelligent fiend jumped out from behind the door and knocked him back. "Hey!"

"Ha! Did you fools think that we would actually keep someone who has been a pain in the ass to us in such a low security as a single door?" the Fiend said. "Of course we left a guard! And you will have to duel me to get him back!"

"Fine. I can take you, freak show." Flynn said, tossing his deck into the slot of the duel disk he had picked up after he had broken his old one.

"Let's duel!"


	28. Flynn's First Shadow Game

Chapter 28- Flynn's First Shadow Game

Flynn: 4000 

**Guard Fiend: 4000**

"I shall begin!" said the Guard. "I set a monster in defense mode and activate Toll! Now we must pay 500 life points to declare an attack! I end my turn."

"Is that all you've got?" Flynn asked. He drew a card.

"Of course not."

"That question was rhetorical; it did not require or want answering." Flynn contemplated his hand. "I summon my Spirit Ryu (Wind/Dragon/Effect, 1000/1000) in attack mode." Flynn frowned as he felt the pain that came with the Shadow Game. "I attack your face-down monster."

"Don't forget to pay 500 life points."

"Do you think I would?"

Flynn: 3500 

**Guard Fiend: 4000**

"Ha! That was my Giant Germ! Now, you take a further 500 points of damage."

Flynn: 3000 

**Guard Fiend: 4000**

"And now I'm allowed to Special Summon two more Giant Germs in attack mode (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 1000/100)!"

"I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

"And I begin mine!" The Guard drew a card. "I set another monster and switch my germs to defense mode. That's all."

"What the heck is this guy doing?" Julie asked. "He could have broken through Flynn's monster if he was willing to sacrifice one Giant Germ, and then Flynn would have taken 500 points of damage anyway."

"Maybe he doesn't want to have to pay life points." Drake suggested.

"Maybe…" Keith said. "But I think I see something else. Matt told me about a deck he once made that focused entirely on waiting to play a huge monster in a massive combo and blast through. I think it included Pole Position, Messenger of Peace, Ancient Gear Golem, and Fake Trap or Judgment of Anubis. And when you think about it, if you can get those cards together, it's hard not to win."

"I see… so you think this is a deck that is similar to that?" Drake said.

"Yes. And I feel lucky, so I'd bet any reasonable amount that this is one of those decks."

"You always feel lucky." Julie commented.

"Thank you for the insight." Flynn said, and drew a card. "I think I'll break this annoying lock by activating my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Toll. Then I play my Dark Hole spell card, which destroys all monsters on the field. So, your Giant Germs cannot activate their effects. And your face-down Nimble Momanga cannot either."

"What?!? How did you know that it was Nimble Momonga?" The Guard said.

"This sounds crazy, but the guy you captured just told me."

"Ha… even if destroyed all my cards so far, he cannot help you win this duel!"

"I think I'll take his advice and play my Mirage Dragon (Light/Dragon/Effect, 1600/1000) and attack directly."

Flynn: 3000 

**Guard Fiend: 2400**

"I end my turn."

The fiend drew, grimacing in pain. Then the grimace changed to an evil grin. "Even he cannot protect you from this! I set one card, then summon Don Turtle (Water/Aqua/Effect, 1000/1200) in defense mode. This allows me to special summon as many 'Don Turtle' as I have in my hand. Hey, look, two more! Then I activate Pot of Greed, and draw two more cards." He smiled evilly again. "I set two more cards. Then I'm done."

"I draw-"

"I play my Thunder of Ruler trap card! This prevents you from conducting your Battle Phase this turn!"

"Oh, well. I guess I'll just summon a Luster Dragon (Wind/Dragon, 1900/1600) in attack mode and end my turn."

"My turn!" He drew a card. "Hehehe! I sacrifice two Don Turtles and summon my ANCIENT GEAR GOLEM (Earth/Machine/Effect, 3000/3000) in attack mode!"

"Uh, what was that combo again, Keith?" Drake asked.

"Let's see… Ancient Gear Golem, Pole Position, Fake Trap, and Messenger of Peace. I see potential to have three pieces in place." Keith said.

"ANCIENT GEAR GOLEM, destroy his Mirage Dragon!"

Flynn: 1600 

**Guard Fiend: 2400**

Flynn groaned as a wave of pain washed over him.

"Ha! Do you see now that it is futile to fight back?"

"Actually," Flynn groaned. "I'm being told that this is the way to victory."

"Ha! You're still listening to that hallucination of yours? How are you going to get out of this spot?"

"End your turn and I'll show you."

"Fine, I end my turn."

Flynn drew a card. "Hm. This'll do. I play my Fissure spell card-"

"I activate Pole Position! This trap prevents you from affecting the strongest monster on the field with spell cards!"

"I knew you'd do that."

"Then why did you waste that card?"

"Because I'm the one trapping you."

"Huh?"

"I play Card of Sanctity, which allows us both to refresh our hands to six cards." They both drew some new cards. "I summon my Red Eyes B. Chick (Dark/Dragon/Effect, 800/600). He won't be hanging around for long, though, as I'm going to sacrifice him to Special Summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon (Dark/Dragon, 2400/2000) from my hand. But even he won't be around for much longer, for I am going to sacrifice him to special summon my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon (Dark/Dragon/Effect, 2400/2000)."

"Why would you sacrifice a monster for one that is essentially the same?" The Guard Fiend asked.

"Because for every dragon in my Graveyard, my Darkness Dragon gains 300 attack points. Though I only have two right now, I can add at least one more right now, at the cost of a few life points. I activate my Ultimate Offering Trap Card! This allows me to summon more than one monster a turn, at the cost of 500 life points per extra monster. So, I sacrifice my Luster Dragon for Horus, the Black Flame Dragon Lv. 6 (Fire/Dragon/Effect, 2400/1200) in attack mode.

Flynn: 1100 

**Guard Fiend: 2400**

This puts third dragon in the graveyard, giving my Darkness Dragon just a few more attack points than your Golem (3300). Darkness Dragon, attack his Golem with Inferno Dark Fire!"

Flynn: 1100 Guard Fiend: 2100 

"Now, Horus, burn him away!"

Flynn: 1100 

**Guard Fiend: 0**

As usual, the fiend exploded. He left behind a small card and a large pool of blood. Flynn walked over, checked the card, and pocketed it. "Might be useful you never know." He said, a little faintly.

"Let's go get Matt out of there." Drake said.

"Yeah." Julie said. They walked into the prison cell to find it completely empty.

"What? I thought he was in here." Drake said.

"Ha! Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha… you fell right into our trap!" said an intelligent fiend right behind them. "Your friend is on the entire other side of the Shadow Realm! And soon your bodies will be scattered all across the Shadow Realm!" Several brute fiends with what appeared to be some RPK SAWs seemed to walk out through the walls.

"OH SHIT!" Flynn said for the second time in a about half an hour. The fiends opened fire and they all hit the ground.


	29. Life Crisis

Chapter 29- Life Crisis

The fiends began randomly firing their SAWs in all directions. Some bullets struck the ground right next to Drake's hand. He pulled out his M-24 and open fire. Two fiends went down from the first burst he let loose. He could hear the sound of the others shooting in all directions. Drake rolled sideways to avoid a fiend who had leveled his weapon on him and capped the fiend in the head. The efficiency with which he was killing these beasts was almost sickening, at least to him.

_After this is over,_ Drake thought, _I never want to kill anything ever again._ He heard a scream of pain from his left. Julie had taken a shot to the shoulder, which had shattered the instant it was hit. She had convulsed on impulse and was now clutching her destroyed shoulder, bleeding horribly. Drake shot the fiend who had been aiming at her in the head, then let loose a full auto burst that consumed the rest of his clip. He released the clip and reached into his pocket for a new one. He snapped the new clip into place and opened up on another fully auto burst, ripping apart two fiends. There seemed to be an almost endless supply of the monsters. There were at least twenty still alive. Three more were cut down by Keith's spam fire. Flynn's burst took out another. Still more came.

Some more shots hit the ground near Drake and kicked something up into his eyes. For a moment he was blinded, and while he was still blinded, he heard another scream of pain. He frantically rubbed his eyes, trying to get the stuff out. He heard the loud thump of some more fiends dying and falling to the ground. Finally his vision cleared up. He leveled his rifle on the nearest fiend and capped it in the head, then turned on another and shot it too. The bodies were piling up and they still kept coming. Drake shot three more and he heard Flynn and Keith take down at least eight more. There were only three left. Flynn launched his last grenade and killed all three in one blast.

"Is everyone okay?" Sarge called.

"No!" Drake said. He was looking at Julie. Evidently in all the noise he hadn't heard her cry out. Drake couldn't figure out how he couldn't have. She had been shot three times- once in the shoulder and twice in the lower back. She was lying in a (thankfully small) pool of her own blood and breathing shallowly. Drake crawled over to her prone form. She looked up without moving her head.

"I… I'm sorry." She said faintly. "I… I was too slow."

"It's not your fault! Don't give up, you're going to be okay! Don't worry…" Drake sat there, feeling helpless.

"Thank… thank you for being my friend… it was fun… ugh…" she closed her eyes.

"No! Don't die! Stay with me! Please…" Drake tried to stop the flow of the blood with something, anything, but he just couldn't. She smiled.

"Don't worry… about me. I wasn't that useful anyway."

"Yes, you were! You were with us! You were part of our group! Please… don't die…" Julie smiled again, closed her eyes, and stopped breathing. Drake stood and faced the fiend. His wounded leg threatened to give out but held. "You…"

The fiend smiled an ugly smile. "You've never had a comrade die, have you? Now you feel my pain, all the pain you have caused me by killing my fellow fiends."

"Except that you guys don't die forever! You come back!"

The fiend smiled his ugly smile again. "Yes, there is that. Your friend can never come back."

Drake almost tore him to pieces with his bare hands. "You bastard! I'm going to kill you!"

"Let's do this as civilized men, at least." The fiend said, and activated his duel disk.

"Fine. I'll tear you to shreds with my deck, then!" Drake activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I'll go first!" said the fiend. He drew his card and smiled his ugly smile again. That smile was beginning to bug Drake. "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn!"

"Fine then!" Drake drew his card. "I'll kill you soon. I summon my Skilled Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/1700) in attack mode! Attack his monster!"

"Ha! Witch of the Black Forest! Now I can pull a monster from my deck! I choose Goblin Elite Attack Force!"

"It doesn't matter when I set this card. I end my turn."

"I draw! Then I destroy your face-down, indubitably Trap Hole, with Mystical Space Typhoon!" Drake scowled. "Then I summon my Goblin Elite Attack Force (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 2200/1500) in attack mode! Destroy his magician!"

Drake: 3700 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Hmph. Weak." Drake said.

"I set a card face-down and end my turn."

"Ha! Now your Goblins are in defense mode!" Drake drew a card. "I summon Skilled White Magician (Light/Spellcaster/Effect, 1700/1900) in attack mode! Destroy the Goblins!"

"I activate Sakuretsu Armor! Now your monster is destroyed!"

"Crap! I set one card and end my turn."

"My turn, then!" said the fiend, and drew a card. "I activate another Space Typhoon!" Drake's facedown Mirror Force was destroyed. "Then I activate Book of Taiyo, which forces my Goblins into attack mode! Then I equip them with not one, but two Malevolent Nuzzlers, giving them 3600 attack points! Attack directly!"

Drake: 100 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Drake's getting mutilated out there!" Keith said. He and Flynn had quickly realized what was going on. "He's only got 100 life points left!"

Drake clutched at his heart, which, for a moment, had stopped beating. Intense pain radiated through his body from the last attack. He felt, once again, as if he had no energy left. But then he remembered Julie, and the rage gave him the strength to fight. "I will destroy you this turn!"

"Ha! You have 100 life points, not even enough to supply the cost of a wimpy little card that wouldn't help you at all! My Goblins can beat anything you throw at me!"

"Except that they're in defense mode."

"Not for long, because I play another Book of Taiyo to switch them back to attack mode! Then I end my turn."

"Grr…" Drake drew a card. He began to laugh, almost in an evil way.

"Uh, Flynn, I don't like that, do you?" Keith asked.

"No. Drake is not an evil laugh person, though I must admit it is rather effective." Flynn said. "He's either lost it, or he is in a blind rage and is about to mutilate his opponent."

"I summon Mpirian Warrior (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1500/1200) in attack mode! This allows me to special summon up to two more from my deck!"

"So? Even with them you still can't break through my Goblins!"

"I activate Burning Soul Sword! I can use it to sacrifice monsters to give one of my monsters more attack points! So, I equip it to Mpirian Warrior and sacrifice his two compatriots to raise his attack points to 4500!"

"That's still not enough to kill me!"

"I activate Mpirian Soul Empower! Now I can remove monsters from my graveyard to give him even more power! So, as I am in a destructive mode, I'll remove all the monsters in the graveyard to give him even more attack points! To be exact, he now has 11100 attack points!"

"Isn't that a bit excessive?" Keith asked.

"Uh, I think that's what Drake is going for." Flynn said.

"Mpirian Warrior, obliterate him!"

Drake: 100 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded, like his brothers before him (well, they weren't exactly brothers but you know what I mean). Drake stared at the bloody mess, still not completely satisfied with the fiend's final fate. Flynn slowly approached him.

"Drake." He said. "Wasn't that a bit much?"

"No, damn it, he deserved every bit of it." Drake said. "I crushed his soul like he crushed Julie's dreams."

"There's just one fallacy there."

"What are you taking about?" Drake said, ready to rip Flynn up next.

"Julie isn't dead yet. She's still hanging on, if only by a thread. Something strange happened after you started dueling that guy. This strange white aura surrounded her and somehow, someway, all her wounds began to heal. They're still pretty bad, and she's still only barely alive, but she should make it."

"Oh, God." Drake said. "I'm sorry. That was rather irrational of me."

"Don't worry, it's okay. We all would have probably done the same thing you did."

"I know. But that does not make it acceptable." Drake turned away. This incident embarrassed him. He should have controlled his anger better. Keith walked over, supporting Julie, who, despite being rather pale and unable to support her own weight, looked fine.

"Are we going to get going?" Keith asked. Sarge nodded.

"Yeah, we need to get to the other side of the Shadow Realm. We had better start before reinforcements get here. And I think I know a shortcut."

"Where?" Julie said weakly. Flynn just smiled.

"Follow me."


	30. Across the Shadow Realm

Chapter 30- Across the Shadow Realm

"What are you talking about, Flynn?" Drake asked.

"Watch." Flynn pulled the card he had picked off the dead corpse of the guard fiend out of his pocket and walked over to a wall, which was covered in chains and blood. "Matt told me something. The Shadow Realm isn't spherical, like our world, but its flat. So, to eliminate inefficiency…" Flynn inserted the card into an almost unnoticeable slot in the wall. The wall slid down, revealing a small room with a small purple square in the center. "…teleporters. They can take you across the Shadow Realm in an instant."

"Really?" Keith said. "Well, that's good. I'd hate to have to walk all the way across the Shadow Realm."

"Yeah, find more fiends, almost get killed again and again, I know how you feel." Drake said.

"There's only one problem with these teleporters." Flynn said, and frowned. "Supplying power to them. They're not powered by anything like our electricity or something like that, they have to be powered by the people who use them."

"Oh. How do we do that?" Drake asked.

"You have to burn away a small portion of your soul."

"Ugh! Wouldn't that kill you?"

"Not entirely." Keith said. "It would hurt a lot, obviously, but it won't kill you. It'll just…" he thought for a moment, trying to phrase it correctly. "…destroy a part of you. Make you somewhat less human, or something like that. I can't really explain it, I saw an article on theory about souls once in some obscure magazine and read it. It's kind of vague, I'm not sure exactly what it'll do."

"So, who wants to go first?" Flynn said. No one spoke for a full five minutes. "Well, don't all volunteer at once. So, I pick… Drake to go first."

"What? Why me?" Drake asked.

"Because no one else is volunteering and I'm Sarge!"

"Damn." Drake stood facing the teleport pad for a while. Then, in a moment of stupid courage, he stepped forward. There was a rush of wind past his face, and he felt as if his energy was being slowly drained. The blood was rushing _away_ from his face. All was dark around him. Then, light began to filter back into his senses. He could see a similar room to the one he had just left, except there was nothing in it. Flynn appeared behind him.

"It worked?"

"Either that or we died and went to the same place."

"Good. Keith and Julie are coming next." At that moment Keith appeared next to Flynn, still supporting Julie. He seemed exhausted.

"Ugh. I think I had to support both of us, Julie doesn't have much left." He said. She had fallen unconscious again. Drake couldn't blame her, he had only been shot once, and look what it done to him!

"We should get moving." Sarge said, resuming his role of command.

"Can someone else take Julie?" Keith asked. Drake threw Julie's other arm over his shoulder and pulled her off of Keith. Sarge checked his 203 and threw open the door to the hallway. A fiend was there to greet him. They decided to trade to get past him. He got a fair deal- a nice shiny grenade round. Several more were attracted by the generous offer. They too were given fair trades- somewhere around 55 SAW rounds. The noise finally attracted an intelligent fiend, who confronted them.

"Alright, you fools, you have defeated the brute force squad-"

"As usual." Flynn muttered.

"But you shall not pass me! I choose to duel… her!" The fiend pointed to Julie.

"You asshole, she can't duel." Drake said.

"I know! That means I win! And since I won, I get your souls!"

"Do the rules say that?" Keith said. "I thought you couldn't challenge an unconscious person to a duel. It's in the rulebook."

"Ah! But here's the rules of the Shadow Realm!" The fiend pulled a small manual, titled "Shadow Games and Shadow Duel Rules for Dummies," and flipped through a few pages. "See? Right here." He moved a little closer and let Keith read over his shoulder.

" 'In the event that the challenged duelist cannot duel, the duel is automatically won by the challenger and the challenger can therefore take his prize.' Damn, he's right." Keith said. "We're screwed."

"What? Let me see that." Flynn took the book that the fiend handed him and showed it to Drake. Sure enough, the rule that Keith had read was right there.

"So, I'll just take all of your souls now!" The fiend, who had stood patiently while they had checked the rules, now made a dramatic gesture with his hands. Julie lifted her head off of Drake's shoulder moments before he could do anything.

"Wait… I… I can duel." She said, very softly, almost inaudibly.

"Julie, you can't. You can barely speak, much less duel!" Drake said.

"I… have to. I can't… I can't let you lose your souls without me trying to do something about it."

"You could die! Don't be a hero!"

"N..no. I have to do this." She pulled her arm off of Drake and stood up. Her legs shaking from weakness, she slowly hobbled over to the fiend. "Let's duel…"

"Heh. So you can try to duel, but you won't win! Let's go!"

Julie: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I'll go first!" said the fiend, and drew a card. "Let's see… so many cards. I think I'll play Ookazi, to do 800 damage to your life points!"

Julie: 3200 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Then, I'll play Poison of the Old Man, to further hurt you- 800 more points of hurt!"

Julie: 2400 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Damn… he's playing a burn deck. He's going to drain her of her life so she can't fight." Keith said. "And he's off to a great start." Julie was already swaying on the spot, the Shadow Game already greatly weakening her.

"Heh. You can't win. I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Okay… my turn." Julie drew a card. "I summon Zure, Knight of Dark World (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1500) in attack mode." She winced as the pain of the Shadow Game overtook her. "A…attack…"

"Ha! That was my Giant Germ! And when he's destroyed, you lose 500 more life points!"

Julie: 1900 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Then, I special summon two more Giant Germs in attack mode (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 1000/100)!"

"I… set a card. Then… I'm done."

"Ha! It will be all you can do! I activate Restructor Revolution, which does 200 damage to your life points for every card in your hand! And since you have four, that's a further 800 damage you have taken!"

Julie: 1100 

**Fiend: 4000**

Julie clutched at her heart, swayed on the spot, and fell face down onto the ground. She lay there for a moment, then slowly, and with incredible effort, pushed herself to her feet. "I… can't stop fighting. I…have… to protect my friends."

The fiend began to laugh- a high, cold cruel laugh that Drake could have sworn he had heard before. "You fool, you are hardly alive, and you think to fight and win? I can win right now! And I think I will! I summon Gravekeeper's Curse (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 800/800), which now does 500 more damage to your life points!"

Julie: 600 

**Fiend: 4000**

Yet again, Julie grabbed her heart and began coughing up blood. Her legs gave out and she was on the ground again, still spitting up blood. She made an effort to stand up, but her arms gave out and she was again on the ground, but this time did not try to get up again.

"NO!" Drake shouted. "Julie! Get up!" She did not respond.

"No…" Keith said. "This isn't good…"

"Damn right about that." Flynn said. "With her down like that, there's nothing left to stop him from taking our souls…" Julie looked up from her position on the ground. Drake thought he saw something that looked like a blue mist hovering in front of her. She made another effort to get up, but her arms gave out again and she remained face down on the ground.

"Give it up!" The fiend said. "You cannot win! You are too weak to win this." A miraculous change came over Julie. Her labored breathing became easier. She stopped coughing. Then she stood up without any kind of difficulty. Drake saw a new light in her eyes- literally. There seemed to be something blue swimming around just behind her pupils. The fiend looked stunned. "What the…?"

"Let's finish this." Julie said. Her voice was steady and sure. The fiend, despite his initial surprise, regained his composure.

"Fine! I'll be winning soon anyway. Giant Germ, attack Zure!"

"What the hell is he doing?" Drake asked. "Zure is much stronger!"

"That's what he wants." Keith said. "When Germ is destroyed, Julie will take 500 damage. And since he has two…"

"He can do at least 1000 damage by ramming into Zure. The damage that he will receive is negligible, so long as he can survive it physically. He will defeat Julie without even destroying her monster." Flynn finished.

"Oh. Crap." Drake said.

"Now that they have shut up and stopped discussing, Giant Germs, ram into Zure and end this!"

"I play Negate Attack. Now you won't win this turn." Julie said.

"Fine then. There's no possible way that you can win this turn."

"Hm. Not quite." Julie drew her card. "I play the Ritual Spell Card End of the World! Now, I can sacrifice eight star's worth of monsters in order to summon a monster, either Demise, King of Armageddon, or Ruin, Queen of Oblivion. For this situation, I'll need Ruin. I send Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World and Sillva, Warlord of Dark World from my hand to the graveyard, and special summon Ruin, Queen of Oblivion (Light/Fairy/Ritual/Effect, 2300/2000)."

"Wow, when did Julie get so good?" Keith asked.

"I… I don't think that's entirely Julie." Flynn said.

"What are you talking about?" Drake said.

"How do you think she suddenly got all this strength? I can't really explain it. But I think that somehow, someway, Matt has taken possession of Julie. As if he was just a ghost, or something like that."

"…But that would mean that Matt is dead." Drake said. "I guess that kills our hope of finding him…"

"Yeah, I guess your right." Keith said. Even though he was now faced with a huge battery of strong monsters, the fiend laughed.

"You still can't win in one turn! No matter what you do, I win!"

"Not quite. I play Pot of Greed. Now I can draw two more cards." She did so. "I play Tribute to the Doomed! Now, by discarding one card, I can destroy one of your monsters! So, I discard this…" She slid a card into her graveyard. "…and I'll destroy one of the two Giant Germs! And because it was not destroyed in battle, its effect does not activate. And now, because he was discarded from my hand, I can special summon Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 1600/1300) in attack mode! Now, Ruin, Queen of Oblivion, destroy Giant Germ!"

Julie(?): 600 

**Fiend: 2900**

"You forget, now you take 500 damage!"

"So? I'll kill you long before you can hurt me again."

Julie(?): 100 

**Fiend: 2900**

Julie didn't even react to the damage. "Because Ruin destroyed a monster, she can attack again, so she'll attack Gravekeeper's Curse!"

Julie: 100 

**Fiend: 1600**

"And since she destroyed another monster, Ruin can attack again! So now, Ruin, destroy him!"

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…"

Julie(?): 100 Fiend: 0 

The fiend exploded like his compatriots before him. The miraculous strength left Julie, and she fell to the ground. Drake managed to catch her, like Matt only a few hours earlier, before she hit the ground.

"You have terrible luck." Drake whispered. "Take a break."

"We need to get moving again." Flynn said. "If it's true that they killed Matt, then our job just got a lot harder."


	31. Alone in the Shadow Realm

Chapter 31- Alone in the Shadow Realm

Flynn readied his 203 and walked out the door. There was no one there.

"By the way…" Drake said. "How much ammo do you guys have left? I've only got about a clip and a half left."

"Hmm…" Keith checked his pockets. "I've got two boxes, but they're both used, so I would estimate that I have about 140 rounds left. Which, with a SAW, is pretty small. And…" Keith checked Julie's pockets. He was carrying her with him again. "…I'd think that she's got about three clips left."

"No grenades, and about two clips left." Flynn said. "It looks like we're running a little short on ammo right now."

"What are we going to do about that?" Drake asked. "Obviously that's not enough to get us out of here."

"We could always pick up the weapons and ammo the fiends drop." Keith suggested. "We should start doing that now."

"Yeah." Agreed Flynn. "Without ammo, we're sitting ducks in here. The only one who showed any aptitude at hand-to-hand combat was Matt. And even he was little match for the fiends." He crouched and nailed a fiend who had just turned the corner. "Let's go the other way." They began to walk in the other direction. Three fiends carrying assault rifles greeted them. Drake and Flynn returned the greeting with a couple of head shots and a three-round burst to the stomach.

"I think I'll take this." Drake said, retrieving an AK-74 SU from the dead hands of a fiend. "And these, too." He snagged the clips from the fiend's vest. Flynn had grabbed what looked like an AK-47, but it seemed the have a grenade attachment duck taped to the bottom.

"No reason to change what kind of weapon we're using now." He said. He pulled a few clips out of the fiend's vest and pocketed them. "Let's go." They continued to walk down the hall. After about 400 meters it branched off into three paths. "Oh, which to take?"

"I would like to follow the right path." Keith said. "There's no blood there."

"Wouldn't that mean that less has been killed there already?" Drake asked.

"Yes, and that makes it even more likely that we have not been there."

"Ah. I see your point." Someone whispered something in Drake's ear. "What was that?" Drake whispered back.

"Who are you talking to, Drake?" Flynn asked. Drake turned around. There was no one there.

"Someone said something in my ear… I could have sworn…There it is again!" Drake looked frantically around.

"I think our buddy Drake has lost it." Keith said to Flynn, quietly, but not quietly enough to prevent Drake from hearing it.

"I have not!"

"You're hearing voices from nowhere."

"It said to go straight…"

"Huh? Why would we go there? There's blood _everywhere_. We've probably already been there."

"No, seriously, we need to go straight! I'll bet you anything that that is where Matt is!"

"Matt's dead, we've already established that." Keith said.

"He can't be…"

"It's too late to be sentimental. We need to go."

"Go that way if you like. I'm going this way." And with that, Drake began walking down the path, following the voice from nowhere.

"Oh that little…" He heard Flynn say. He ignored it and went on. The hall way was indeed coated with blood, you could have sworn that it was actually made of blood. Drake ignored that disturbing thought and pressed onwards. He came to a small room filled with some fiends and ducked back around the corner. Without the others he was now in a much more vulnerable position. He had one weapon to the fiend's eight. He had to be stealthy if he had any hope of surviving. He reached around the corner with his M-24 and shot one in the head. Its head exploded and it died. Then something strange happened.

The fiend next to the dead one growled at the one on the other side. The one on the other side growled back. Then, to Drake's surprise, the first fiend leveled his AK-47 on the second and shot him in the head. This triggered a chain reaction in which all the other fiends began to shoot each other. Before long only one remained. Drake effortlessly shot him in the head.

"That was weird…" he muttered, collecting the unexpended clips of ammo from the fiend's corpses. "Why would they shoot each other…?" Without pausing to consider this question, he turned down the next hallway and pressed even farther in. He encountered no more fiends for another half hour, then found a long hallway littered with them. More metal doors lined the sides. "Maybe…" He reached around the corner and shot a fiend in the head. Unlike before, the fiends acted rationally. One of them growled. Three fiends carrying AK-74 SUs came down the hall, scanning in all directions for the shooter.

Drake clicked his M-24 into auto and popped out around the corner, catching the three fiends by surprise. He was able to mow them down before they could react. As the last fiend went down, Drake heard the clicking sound of an empty clip. He had run out of M-24 ammo, and all the other fiends had noticed him. He whipped back around the corner, unslung his AK-74 SU, and threw the empty M-24 around the corner. The fiends paused, believing that he had surrendered. Drake whipped around the corner again and opened fire on the fiend horde. He cut down about half of them before the clip ran dry. He ducked back around the corner as the remaining fiends began shooting at him.

The fiends began lumbering down the hall. Drake pulled the clip out and replaced it, then ran farther down the hallway. The fiends came, but only one by one, so Drake was able to kill them without much difficulty.

_This is sickening. _Drake thought. _There has to be a better way than this._ Despite this thought, Drake collected all the ammo he could before moving on down the hall. He checked inside each of the cells, but there was nothing in them. The hall ended in a dead end.

_Why would the voice take me down here? There's no where to go. Unless… Keith must have been right. I'm losing it._ Drake leaned up against the wall at the end of the hall. He almost fell over as it swung back to admit him. _Of course! A secret passage!_ He unslung his AK rifle and began walking down this new hall.

It too was lined with metal doors. Every cell in this hallway was occupied, however. Well, not really occupied, as all the people in them had to be dead. Several of them had been hung upside down by their one remaining leg, their stomachs torn open, their guts slowly spilling out onto the floor. Others had been thrown onto tables that had retractable spikes; Drake assumed that the fiends had slowly pushed the spikes through the tortured person with the little wheel on the side of he table. Some of the rooms only had bones in them, bones that looked curiously like they had been chewed on. Perhaps most horrible of all was the largest room near the end of the hall. It looked like a surgery ward in a hospital, but Drake guessed that it wasn't for helpful surgery, judging from the empty shell laying on the table and the internal organs that had been scattered all about the room. Unable to keep his stomach calm in the face of such disturbing images, Drake turned and threw up all over the floor.

_Ugh… these guys are worse than I thought. Maybe I shouldn't have gone this way… at least by myself… why is it so cold?_ For some strange reason, the temperature seemed to have fallen. It had felt relatively pleasant when they had entered, not really warm, but it couldn't have been below 65. _And… is it getting darker?_ Suddenly, everything began fading into darkness, until Drake could barely see three feet in front of him. He sat down, back against the door to the surgery room, shivering. _What's going on?_

_The game of the Shadow Realm, _came an ethereal voice.

"Huh? Who's there? Show yourself!" Drake said.

_I cannot… not yet anyhow. I am losing the strength that gives me physical form…I need to leave. But first I need to tell you something. As long as you are alone in the Shadow Realm, it will do things like this to make your life more miserable. Remember, cold and dark invoke feelings of despair. This is the power of the Shadow Realm- it will make you feel despair like you have never felt it before. However, when you are in a group, the power of the Shadow Realm cannot touch you. You need to find the others. Until then, take this. _A white cloak appeared at Drake's feet. _Farewell…_

Drake stood up and wrapped the cloak around him. It was incredibly warm inside. Shouldering his rifle, Drake began to walk back toward the way he had come, in search of his friends.


	32. Apologies

Chapter 32- Apologies

Drake retraced his steps to the place where he had first seen the fiends fight amongst themselves. Here he sat down next to the wall. Though the cloak kept him warm, it could not ward off the despair.

_Where are they? _Drake thought. _Did the fiends get them?_ At the moment, Flynn and Julie stumbled around the corner. Keith was nowhere to be seen. Drake jumped up and ran over to them. As he drew closer the light came back and the cold vanished. "Guys!"

"Oh, Drake, there you are!" Flynn said.

"We're sorry, Drake…" Julie said. She still sounded weak but was at least standing on her own two feet. "We should have listened to you…"

"What happened?"

"Well, after you walked off, we went on the path that Keith had originally suggested." Flynn said. "A while along it we hit an ambush of fiends. Keith took a shot, and, without enough firepower to defend ourselves, we ran. There were so many… almost 125 of them, I would guess. We watched some of them drag Keith off while we were defending ourselves from the advancing horde."

"So they have Keith?" Drake asked.

"That would be a reasonable assumption. Unless Keith got heroic and saved himself by some miracle, which, I suppose, is possible. But I don't think that's likely. They had beaten him unconscious before we had gotten away."

"We're sorry, Drake…" Julie said again.

"For what? If I were you, I doubt I would have listened to me either. No hard feelings."

"You look sick. What's down there?" Sarge asked.

Drake remembered the sickening images he had seen down the other prison hallway and retched. "Ugh, I don't even want to think about it. There were some things down that hallway that I never want to see again."

"And where did you get that white cloak?" Julie asked.

"…I'm not sure. That voice spoke to me again. This place has a terrible power… when someone is alone in the Shadow Realm, it gets dark, cold, and miserable. I would guess that if left in such conditions long enough, a person would get miserable enough to be suicidal. It was starting to get that way for me, then the voice spoke to me and told me to go find you guys. Then this cloak appeared."

"It looks… familiar." Julie said. "I think I've seen it recently."

"What? How is that?" Flynn said. "I don't remember anything like it anytime recently."

"Wait a second… wasn't that Matt-spirit wearing something like it?" Drake said.

"Yeah! But how did he give it physical form? And wouldn't that confirm…" Julie choked on her words, unable to face that kind of reality.

"I guess this is all we have left." Flynn said. "They'll have taken Keith's soul by now, and this does seem to confirm that Matt is gone forever, if his spirit flying around everywhere. Only three left… this has gotten very bad, very quickly." There was a long pause as everyone contemplated the horrible fates of two of their companions. Finally, Sarge took charge. "Let's go."

"Where to?" Drake asked.

"The way you came from."

"Oh. I… I don't think you want to go down there."

"Why not?" Drake flicked his eyes toward Julie, who still looked very weak. Flynn looked confused.

"It's nasty down there and I don't want to make her sick on top of being severely weakened by the Shadow Games." Drake supplied.

"We have to go that way. The fiends have that hall blocked." Flynn said, indicating the hallway that they had just come from.

"Fine then." They all began to walk down the hall that Drake had come from, Drake leading, Julie walking along slowly at the back. They encountered no fiends, as a matter of fact, all the bodies of the fiends that Drake had killed earlier had vanished. Drake led them to the secret wall-door and pushed it open.

"Neat." Julie said. Drake smiled a little and walked farther in.

"Don't look into the cells. If you do, you'll end up scarred for life." He said. A fiend had appeared at the end of the hall and was readying his AK-47. Drake whipped out his AK-74 SU and shot him once in the head. Miraculously the fiend survived. Drake shot him again for surviving- and again, and again, and again. Meanwhile, Flynn and Julie had ducked into the door frames for cover.

"_Why won't you die?!?_" Drake said, flicked his 74 to auto, and unloaded the entire clip into the fiend's head. It finally died. Flynn and Julie popped out of their respective alcoves. Julie took one look at the horribly mutilated fiend and stuck her head back behind the wall. Drake heard her throw up again. Drake turned to Flynn. "Why the _hell_ wouldn't this thing die? I shot it three times in the freakin' head!"

"I don't know." Flynn said, and crouched down next to the lifeless body. "Hmm… maybe…"

"What?" Julie asked, rejoining them.

"Maybe… because we have been obsessed with ammo conservation lately, and have been going for head shots, maybe the fiends have developed so that they are no longer as vulnerable to head shots." Flynn suggested.

"You know, under normal circumstances, I would say you must be crazy, but at the moment, I wouldn't doubt that." Drake said. "So now how do we kill them?"

"Shoot them in the stomach." Julie suggested.

"We might as well try." Sarge said. "We're not going to last long shooting them in the head, and we can't afford to waste ammo doing that anyway." He pulled the clips from the fiend's dead carcass and stood up. "Let's get moving again." They continued walking down the hall. As Drake had already been this way once before, there were no more fiends. Immediately after the surgery room the hall ended. Drake felt the wall, but it wouldn't budge.

"This one seems to not move…" he said. Flynn checked the wall.

"Hey, there's something written down here…" Flynn said, running his finger under it.

"What does it say?" Julie asked.

"I don't know. It's written in some kind of cryptic language I can't begin to comprehend."

"Let me see." Julie crouched down next to Flynn. "Aren't those Egyptian hieroglyphics?"

"Well, I don't know how to read Egyptian. Do you?"

"A little." Julie admitted. "But this is beyond my ability." Drake joined them.

"I have a feeling that I've seen them before." He said. "This exact series of hieroglyphics."

"Where?" Flynn asked.

"It was on some tomb in Egypt. I was watching some T.V. show and I think I saw this in the background. But what does it mean?" They all scratched their heads contemplatively.

"It's too bad Matt isn't here." Julie said. "I bet he'd know."

_"But I am here."_ The voice made them all jump up and spin around, quickly drawing their weapons. Approaching them from behind was the Matt-spirit that Drake and Julie had seen during their earlier Shadow Games.

"What the heck?!? Don't do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Drake said. Matt inclined his head.

_"I am sorry. I forget things like that sometimes. What is your dilemma?"_ They all stared at him for a moment.

"Are you… dead?" Julie asked finally.

_"Not exactly. I can not explain these things here. My time is limited. Again, I ask, what is your dilemma?" _He said.

"Do you know what this says?" Flynn asked. Matt walked closer and crouched next to the wall. He ran his hand along the writing and, for a minute, it glowed brighter.

_"I can. Would you like to know what it says?"_

"Yes." Drake said impatiently. "Why else would we ask?"

_"I am, again, sorry. It speaks of the way to get through this door. It is, indeed, a door, but it requires tribute to open. In order to pass through this door, you must sacrifice a single human soul to it. You can do such a thing by killing someone while they are in contact with the door. Only then will this door open to you."_

"That's sick! You can't expect us to pay such a price!" Drake shouted. The Matt-spirit closed its eyes, then slowly opened them again.

_"I realize that. It is a terrible price. I can not make this decision for you. My time already grows short. You must decide- will you sacrifice a member of your group in order to pass through this door or will you opt for the long route? That is the choice that is before you. The easy route requires only one soul to be destroyed. The long, hard route will take you past many other obstacles in which you will risk your own lives- yes, your very lives."_

"Great." Flynn said.

"Matt…" Julie began.

_"Yes, Julie? What is it?"_

"Will we see you again?"

Matt smiled. It was a warm smile, quite unlike the strange smile that Matt had once had. It actually made him look human. _"I can not answer that. I do not know. It all depends on your future actions… you might, you might not. But now I must go."_

"Wait!" Drake shouted, but the Matt-spirit vanished, once again, as if blown away by the wind. Drake turned to Flynn and asked his signature question. "So, now what do we do?"

"Well, the easy way is right before us…" Flynn scratched his chin. "But is it a price we are willing to pay?" Slowly, and with a sort of grim determination in her eyes, Julie walked to the wall and placed her hand on it. Drake had a terrible suspicion of what she wanted, but he didn't want to think about it.

"Do it." She said."If you can get out of here, it will be well worth it."

"What the hell are you thinking?!?" Drake said.

"I've only been a hindrance to you, ever since I met you. I lost my first duel that you saw, and, without Matt, I'd be long dead from these Shadow Games."

Drake stared at Flynn in utter disbelief. Flynn stared back. "You can't be serious…"

"Please… this way at least I'm of some use to you. I don't want you guys to have to risk your lives by taking the long route… look what already happened to Keith. So, please, just do it and move on." She looked strangely at peace for someone who was volunteering to be killed.

Drake still had his gun drawn. The thoughts running through his mind were many and contradictory. His self-preservation instinct told him to shoot her and be done with it, that this was the easiest way to get out alive, but his heart was shouting at him not to do it. His gun was up, aimed at Julie's heart, his finger on the trigger. He stood there, his gun held loosely, for what felt like an eternity. Flynn stood there, seemingly determined to be a non-participant in this decision. _Do it, you fool!_ Said one of the voices in Drake's head. _Save your own skin!_

_Don't…_ came another. _She's your friend, you can't kill her!_

_Damn it,_ said the first voice. _The only one who matters here is you!_ And before the other voice could answer, the first voice took control, and pulled the trigger. A gunshot rang out through the hall. Julie fell to the ground, taking about three hours to finally hit the ground, curled up, her eyes closed. Drake stared at his hands, and the hot gun in his hands. He couldn't believe what he had just done.

_Oh… no…_ he thought. _I can't believe it… how could I have lost control?_ He let the gun fall from his hands. It hit the ground with a resounding thud. Drake fell to the ground, completely drained by his repulsive action. He heard bullets whizzing over his head, but he didn't care. He had just killed his friend. He could hear Flynn shouting something at him, but Drake couldn't make out the words. Drake sat still, and finally, at long last, the gunshots died away. Flynn grabbed him by the shoulders, looked him once in the eyes, and punched him in the jaw.

The random act of violence brought Drake mostly back to his senses. He again looked at Julie's body, still unmoving on the floor. "I… I killed her…"

"No you didn't, you complete idiot! But you almost got us all killed, losing it while those guys were shooting at us!" Flynn said. Sure enough, Drake could see the rise and fall of Julie's chest as she continued to draw breath.

"What happened?" Drake said, utterly bewildered. "I pulled the trigger!" Flynn picked up Drake's gun, aimed it at Drake and pulled the trigger three times. Nothing happened. Flynn tossed the gun back to Drake and Drake caught it.

"It's empty. You never reloaded after you shot that last fiend. You had no ammo with which to kill her. You pulled the trigger and by some miracle of anti-luck one of those guys shot at the same time. So, while you were despairing over the act you couldn't have committed, I had to cut them all down! And I would say that you are damn lucky you did not get hit by one of their shots."

"Oh." Drake turned away. He had been stupid to even consider shooting Julie just to make his life easier. He had also been stupid in allowing his feelings of self-importance to get control. He walked past Flynn and shook Julie awake.

"Wh… what happened?" she said. Drake, grateful to see her still alive, lost control of his emotions and hugged her.

"I'm sorry…" he said, and for no apparent reason, repeated it several times.

"For what…?" Julie seemed completely confused.

"For thinking about doing that…"

"I should be sorry… I shouldn't have put you in that situation."

"Don't take all the blame…"

Another gunshot cut into this lovely dialogue. Flynn was at it again, shooting down the fiends as the came through the door from the other room. "Come on! While you guys are having a nice emotional reunion, I'm having to protect you guys!"

"Oh, sorry!" Drake said. _Get a grip, Drake Paul Stizen!_ He thought. He retrieved his AK-74 SU, locked and loaded another clip, and began firing down the hall. Julie, still too weak to fight, crawled behind a door frame and sat out the battle. It didn't last very long. The fiends were utterly defeated, bottlenecked by their own secret door. Flynn, thoroughly earning his nickname, took charge.

"Well, not that that little predicament is over, can we go? We need to find this long way that Matt was talking about… and find Keith, too, and perhaps Matt." Sarge said.

"But how are we going to do that?" said Julie. One of the metal doors on the side of the hallway slid open. There was another teleport pad in the center of the room.

"I think I know." Drake said, and stepped onto the pad.


	33. In It For The Long Haul

Chapter 33- In it for the Long Haul

Drake felt the sensation of teleportation- the blood rushing away from his face, the wind blowing past his face, and the sudden lack of energy. He appeared, it seemed, in the same room he had left, but, as neither Flynn nor Julie were there, he knew he must have gone somewhere. He stepped off the pad and Julie appeared. Still weak from her Shadow Games, she collapsed as soon as she came into view. Drake caught her and Flynn appeared as soon as she had vacated the pad.

"Okay, now where are we?" Drake asked, helping Julie stand up.

"How should I know?" Flynn responded. The metal door slid open and four fiends came in. "Never mind that now, though!" He unslung his AK-47 mod and opened fire on the fiends, who had noticed that they were there and had begun to scramble for their AK rifles. Drake capped one in the stomach and it went down quickly. Julie managed to draw her M-16, but before she could shoot, all four fiends were already dead.

"Oh, yeah, Julie never picked up a new weapon. How much ammo do you have left Julie?" Drake asked. She stuck her hands into her pockets and pulled out a few clips.

"Only about one clip left. But I've probably already used a little of it." She said.

"Take an AK." Flynn said. Julie took one of the fiend's mod-less AK-47 rifles and slung it next to her M-16. "Now, who wants to stick their head our into the hallway to see if they sent a reception committee?" Drake walked to the door, put his back to the wall adjacent to the doorway, and peeked around in both directions. There were no fiends in sight.

"All clear." He said. Julie and Flynn moved out of the room and headed towards opposite ends of the hall.

"It's a dead end over here." Julie said.

"I've got about thirty fiends this way." Flynn said. He opened the breech of his rifle mod and pushed a cylinder into the hole. Drake and Julie got up next to him. Flynn pointed his rifle around the corner and pulled the trigger on his grenade launcher. Several of the fiends were killed by the explosion, and several more were burned badly. Drake whipped around the corner and opened fire with his SU. Julie wasn't far behind him. Between the two of them they spread fiendish guts all over the chamber.

"Just like Staples." Drake commented.

"Huh?"

" 'That was easy.'"

"Oh, ha ha." They walked into the huge chamber. There was a multitude of hallways branching off.

"Oh, lovely, they gave us so many wonderful choices!" Flynn said with an air of facetiousness. Drake looked at each passage. As his eyes passed the second-to-last hallway, he could have sworn he saw the form of the Matt-spirit, pointing down it, but his eyes were moving so fast that they passed over it before he could confirm that it was in fact Matt.

"This way." Drake said.

"Hmm?" Flynn said.

"I think I saw Matt pointing this way."

"You know what I've been thinking?" Flynn said.

"What?" Julie said.

"Did you ever think that this Matt-spirit that we've been seeing is just a trick of the Shadow Realm?"

"What do you mean?" Drake asked.

"Maybe whoever is running this entire operation is actually using his form to trick us into going the wrong way, towards our demise. Did you ever think of that? Because when we spoke to the Matt-spirit back at the soul gate he differently than I've heard Matt speak. He never used a contraction, and he could have."

"Hmm…" Drake hadn't thought about that. "No, I never thought about that. I just assumed that it was Matt. He's been helping us this whole time, through our duels and everything."

"I'm not sure… did you ever see him then?"

"Not as solidly as he was back there at the soul gate."

"My point proven. Maybe we shouldn't follow him this time."

"No." Julie said. "We should follow it, I think, no matter what. I can just feel it. It's Matt, or something that retains his personality and his desire to help us."

"Oh, fine." Flynn said. "Don't say I didn't warn you if something goes wrong." They walked down the hallway that the Matt-spirit had indicated. They continued along the passage, killing the fiends who opposed them and following the Matt-spirit where the path split. Drake suddenly realized that they hadn't seen an intelligent fiend in a while. The lack of them was starting to unnerve him. Finally, after fighting their way through at least five rooms full of fiends, an intelligent fiend confronted them.

"You have done well to make it so far." He said. "But here your adventure will end. I challenge… you! With the AK-47 mod!" He dramatically pointed at Flynn.

"Very well." Flynn said, and activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Flynn: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I shall begin." Said the fiend. "I activate my Mystic Plasma Zone spell card! With it, every dark attribute monster in play gains 500 attack points and loses 400 defense points. Then, I summon my Mad Dog of Darkness (Dark/Beast, 1900/1400) in attack mode, then set one card face down. That's all."

"Hmm." Flynn drew a card. "I set one monster in defense mode…"

"And I'll use this opportunity to play my Deck Devastation Virus! With it, I sacrifice a Dark-attribute monster with 2000 or more attack points and then I am allowed to destroy all monsters on your side of the field, every monster in your hand, and every monster you draw for the next three turns with less than 1500 attack points is automatically destroyed!"

"Grr…" Flynn sent his face down monster and one card from his hand to the graveyard. "I set two cards and end my turn."

"My turn, then!" The fiend drew his card. "I activate my Bait Doll spell card! When it's activated, I force the activation of one of your facedown cards! If the activation requirements of the card have not been met, it is destroyed! I select… your left card!"

"Oh well. That was my Waboku trap card, which can activate anyway. So now its effect activates."

"Yes, but now my Bait Doll returns to the bottom of my deck.'

"Unlikely that you'll get to use it again."

"True, but I might just shuffle the deck… but not yet! For now, I summon Zombrya the Dark (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2100/1000) in attack mode, and set another card facedown. That's all."

"Alright, then, my turn." Flynn drew his card.

"Remember, if it has less than 1500 attack points it's destroyed!"

"Hm. Not really." Flynn showed the fiend his Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"Well, no, I guess that wouldn't be destroyed." Drake said. "It's just a little beyond 1500 attack points."

"So, I'll continue. I summon my Luster Dragon (Wind/Dragon, 1900/1600) in attack mode, then equip it with my Axe of Despair! Now it gains some more attack… enough to kill Zombrya! Go, Luster Dragon, destroy Zombrya the Dark!"

Flynn: 4000 

**Fiend: 3700**

"Oh well." The fiend shrugged. "I have many more monsters than just him."

"And I have more monsters than just than just the ones you destroyed with Devastation Virus. But for now, I end my turn."

"And I will begin mine!" The fiend drew a card. "I activate my face-down Call of the Haunted. I'll use it to bring back Mad Dog of Darkness… not that it matters, because I'm going to sacrifice him for The End of Anubis (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2500/0)! And while he's on the field, our graveyards cannot be affected by effects!"

"Oh well."

"Damn it, flinch a little, at least!"

"No."

"Fine then, End of Anubis, attack his Dragon!"

Flynn: 3900 

**Fiend: 3700**

Flynn frowned. "That wasn't very nice."

"Ha! And do you think I care?"

"I doubt it."

"I set another card facedown and end my turn."

"I hate when this guy plays facedowns." Julie said. "They always do something bad."

"My turn." Flynn said. He drew a card. "I activate Pot of Greed! This allows me to draw two new cards."

"Show me! Do they have less than 1500 attack points?" The fiend shouted.

"No." Flynn showed him two more Blue-Eyes.

"How many do you have of those?!?"

"Three. And look where they all are!" Flynn showed him that he now held three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. "And I activate my face down card, Polymerization! I fuse three Blue-Eyes to form Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (Light/Dragon/Fusion, 4500/3800)!!!"

"On crap!"

"Yeah, that kind of sucks for you. Ultimate Dragon, destroy the End of Anubis!"

Flynn: 3900 Fiend: 2200 

"Now, with no cards in my hand, I'm done."

"Grr…" the fiend drew a card. "Hm. I play my own Pot of Greed!" He slid two more cards from his deck to his hand. Then, I activate Fissure, which will destroy your only monster! Then I summon Giant Orc (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2200/0) in attack mode, and play Final Attack Orders! As long as this card remains on the field, all face-up monsters must remain in attack mode!"

"Damn, he just blocked Orc's main weakness." Drake said.

"Huh?" Julie said.

"When Orc attacks, it goes to defense mode. But, while Final Attack Orders is on the field, he can't, so he remains in attack mode, and if you haven't noticed, that is vastly superior to his other side."

"Ah."

"Giant Orc, attack this fool directly!"

Flynn: 1200 

**Fiend: 2200**

Flynn groaned and staggered a little.

"There, that's better." The fiend said. "Finally got a flinch out of you. And I assure you, you will fall next time I attack. I end my turn."

Flynn drew his card. "Not quite." Flynn said. Drake thought Flynn's voice sounded a little hoarse. "I activate Card of Sanctity, which will allow us to each refresh our hands to six cards." They both drew more cards. "Then, I play my own Monster Reborn on Ultimate Dragon."

"Not him again!" The fiend groaned. "Hm. No matter. Next turn I'll destroy him, summon another monster, attack, and win!"

"Again, not quite. I sacrifice him to summon the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon (Light/Dragon/Effect, 3000/2500)!"

"Why would you get rid of a better monster for that?!?"

"Because now he gains 300 attack points for every dragon in the graveyard. And I have… let's see… seven dragons in my graveyard, so he gains 2100 attack points, which gives him a grand total of 5100, just enough to wipe you out!"

"NO!!!"

"Yes! BLUE-EYES SHINING DRAGON, DESTROY HIM!!!"

Flynn: 1200 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded, as usual. Flynn turned to the other two.

"That's all. Let's get moving." He said. "Before they send anyone else, if you please." They set out again, down another hallway, wondering what could happen next.


	34. Brooklyn

Chapter 34- Brooklyn

Brooklyn sat at his little disk in the secret base, sipping on a can of root beer. He wondered why Matt hadn't responded. _As far as I can remember, whenever I called, Matt always has responded almost immediately. There's only one explanation- something happened. _It had been nearly three hours since the others had left for the second time, leaving him by himself with an inanimate body and two almost-human computers.

"Has Matt responded yet?" Chris asked S.C.A.N.

"No. It seems odd. You sent that message almost a half an hour ago. There's no reason for Matt not to have responded by now. He always is most prompt in his responses." The computer responded. "Do you think something happened to him?"

"Yes."

"And what do you plan to do about it?"

"Well, I was content to sit here and wait until this was over, but if they lost Matt, then it would seem that the others would be in a lot of trouble. Depending on how long he's actually been gone, they may already be in trouble!"

"I concur. You should attempt to help them. D.A.N. and I can watch the base and Miss Helen. The only problem is what will you defend yourself from the brute-force squad with?"

Brooklyn smiled and picked up a battleaxe off the floor. "I do like shotguns, but this will do just fine. And don't forget, I'm not bad at dueling."

"Well, before you leave, maybe I should give you the experiment."

"Didn't Matt say not to use that until he was sure it was safe? We still haven't finished insulating the barrel."

"I finished that. It's a little primitive, but it will work." D.A.N. said. A part of the wall slid up to reveal a hi-tech looking laser. The barrel was wrapped in a heavy pad. Brooklyn raised an eyebrow.

"You're right, that is primitive. But will work, I guess." Brooklyn attached the battleaxe to use belt and took the laser. "How long will it last?"

"Depending on how frequent you fire it, it will have somewhere between 12,000 to 15,000 shots. The more frequent you fire it, the fewer shots, because it will overheat much faster." S.C.A.N. said. Brooklyn nodded, slung the laser, and began climbing the ladder. There was no one at the top. Brooklyn shut the trapdoor behind him, covered it with the camo leaves, and made his way to the gate. Naturally, it was surrounded by fiends.

"Time for a little field test." He smiled. He unslung the laser, aimed at the nearest fiend, and pulled the trigger. There was no light beam and no sound, but a burning hole appeared in the fiend's stomach. The fiend fell dead with a look of utter surprise on its face. Brooklyn smiled a little smile and proceeded to pick off the rest of the army, who had no idea where the shots were coming from. Brooklyn took his time, not wanting to waste too many laser shots. He stopped firing when the only fiend left was an intelligent one.

"So, you are the one who just killed all those idiots." The fiend said.

"Yeah. Wanna duel?"

"That is my job. And it is also my job to take your soul!"

"Ha! You can't take me down. I'm just as good as my brother."

"Heh. The one who is currently our prisoner?"

"Well, that explains why I couldn't contact him. But it will take more than a few fiends to keep him down. But let's not talk about him. Let's do this!"

"Let's duel!"

Brooklyn: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I'll go first!" said Brooklyn. "I summon my Mpirian Axe Man (Earth/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 1900/1000) in attack mode! Then I play a facedown and end my turn."

"Fine then. I draw! And then I'll activate Toon World! I have to pay 1000 life points to play this card."

Brooklyn: 4000 Fiend: 3000 

"Then, I can special summon my toon monsters! So, to begin, I play my Toon Gemini Elf (Earth/Spellcaster/Toon/Effect, 1900/900) in attack mode. And since you have no toon monsters, I can attack you directly! Go, Gemini Elf, attack this fool directly!"

Brooklyn: 2100 

**Fiend: 3000**

Brooklyn frowned as the pain of the Shadow Game hit him like a ton of bricks. "You know, it's nice to inform people when you're going to play a Shadow Game with them. At least all the old villains would be like, 'And now, I'll destroy you with a Shadow Game!' or something of that nature when they started one."

"Ha! Screw that. Let's get on to Gemini Elf's effect. When they do damage to you, I get to discard a card from your hand." He sent Brooklyn's Return from the Dead Spell card to the graveyard. "And now, I set two cards, and I am done."

"Yes, you are." Brooklyn drew. "Before your turn ends, I play Desperate Mpirian Charge! With it, I send one monster from my Deck with a higher level than the monster on the field to the graveyard. I'll send this, Chris, King of Mpire, to the Graveyard, and activate my trap. When this card is activated, I can attack once during the end of your turn! So, Mpirian Axe Man, destroy the toon!"

"Grr…"

"And since you ended your turn, it goes to mine. I draw… and during my Standby phase, the spell card that you sent to the graveyard activates! Return from the Dead!"

"What, how? Huh?!?"

"Watch. When you send Return from the Dead to the graveyard and I haven't activated it, I can use it during my next Standby phase at no cost, instead of having to pay the usual 1000 life points. But before I do, I'll chain this Quick-Play Spell- Mpirian Destruction of the Blockade! By discarding cards from my hand, I can destroy your 'blockade'- namely those facedowns! So, I discard Andy, Lord of Mpire, and Jeff, Lord of Mpire, to destroy both of your facedowns!"

"Curses… but now you have depleted all your resources! There's no way you can win now!"

"You've forgotten my Spell- Return from the Dead!"

"Hurry up and explain it so I can beat it."

"You won't get the chance to. You see, Return from the Dead special summons as many Mpirian Royals from the Graveyard as possible- any Mpire Card with 'King,' 'Lord,' 'High King,' or 'High Queen' in the title. So, I'll bring back Chris, King of Mpire (Earth/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2600/1500) in attack mode, Andy, Lord of Mpire (Wind/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 1900/1800) in attack mode, and Jeff, Lord of Mpire (Wind/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2100/1700) in attack mode!"

"Holy shit!"

"Hey, hey, keep it G-rated! Now, since you have no monsters any more, and I have three, I think I'll go ahead and attack directly! Go, all three of you! Destroy him!"

Brooklyn: 2100 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded.

"That's all, folks." Brooklyn quipped. He lasered the three unfortunate fiends who had walked through the gate at that moment, and stepped through the gate to the Shadow Realm.


	35. ThreeonThree Shadow Game

Chapter 35- Three-on-Three Shadow Game

They continued to search the Shadow Realm, following the Matt-spirit, despite Flynn's earlier objections. Soon they had fought their way into the very core of the Shadow Realm. Why else, Drake thought, would it get so dark when he wasn't alone.

"Is it just me, or is it getting really cold?" asked Julie. She still hadn't fully recovered from her injuries and shadow games.

"No… it's not you. It is getting a little colder." Flynn said.

"Guess that must be a consequence of getting farther into the Shadow Realm." Drake said. "We should be careful."

"Aren't we always?"

"No. Otherwise I wouldn't have your shirt sleeves wrapped around my leg."

"Hey, sometimes stuff like that is unavoidable." They turned a corner to find a room loaded with fiends. "OH SHIT!" Flynn opened fire on the horde. Drake whipped out his 74 and began firing into the crowd. Julie ducked back behind the corner and began firing from cover. Between the three of them they spread fiend guts all over the room. "Why did that seem too easy?"

"Maybe because they didn't have guns." Drake suggested. "Do you think they ran out of weapons from all the fiends we've already killed?"

"That's possible. Where did they get the weapons anyway?"

"Maybe the mastermind bought them from terrorists or something." Julie suggested. Three fiends appeared from the pile of bodies, blood, and guts. All three wore duel disks and each was a different color.

"Do I smell a tag duel approaching?" Drake whispered in Flynn's ear.

"We three challenge you all to a tag-team duel!" The fiends said in unison.

"You do." Flynn whispered back. "Alright, losers, let's do this!"

"Are you calling us losers or them?" Julie asked.

"Them, of course."

"Let's duel!"

Julie: 4000 

**Flynn: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 4000 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 4000**

"I'll lead off!" said the Blue-colored fiend. "I summon Oppressed People (Water/Aqua, 100/2000) in defense mode! Then I set one card and end my turn."

"My turn next!" Drake said. "I summon Mystical Elf (Light/Spellcaster, 800/2000) in defense mode! I will also set a card and end my turn."

"I'm second on my team!" said the green fiend. "I summon United Resistance (Wind/Thunder, 1000/800) in attack mode! Then I end my turn."

"My turn now!" Julie drew a card. "I summon Zure, Knight of Dark World (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1500) in attack mode! Then I end my turn."

"My turn now!" said the Red Fiend. "I summon my People Running About (Fire/Pyro, 1500/800) in attack mode! Then I set a card and end my turn."

Flynn looked slightly troubled as he drew his card. "I… do not summon a monster, but I do set a card face-down. Then I end my turn."

"And I will begin the destruction!" The blue fiend drew his card. "I activate my facedown card, Huge Revolution! When People Running About, United Resistance, and Oppressed People are face-up on the field together, I can activate this card. Then, I destroy all cards on your side of the field!"

"No!" Drake said.

"Thought so." Flynn said.

"Now, I summon my Giant Red Seasnake (Water/Sea Serpent, 1800/800) in attack mode. Attack… Julie directly!"

Julie: 2200 

**Flynn: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 4000 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 4000**

Julie grimaced from the pain, clutched her heart, and fell to one knee. Drake gave her one quick look, slightly worried, but she got up quickly. _Why is it that everyone _always_ goes for Julie? Is there something about her that they want to remove from our group? Or is it just that they want to weed people out of our group so that the power of the Shadows can affect us easier, and that she's the weakest at the moment?_ His gaze returned to the fiends. "My turn!" Drake drew his card. "I summon my Skilled Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/1700) in attack mode! Attack United Resistance!"

Julie: 2200 

**Flynn: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 4000 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 3100**

"I end my turn."

"My move." Said the green fiend. "I summon Familiar-Possessed Wynn (Wind/Spellcaster/Effect, 1850/1500) in attack mode! Attack Julie directly!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 4000 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 3100**

Julie fell to both knees this time, grimacing from the pain again, and started coughing up blood again. _God! Why can't they go after someone else for once?!? _Drake thought. _Why does it always have to be Julie?_

The fiend smiled an evil smile. "I'm done, and unless she does something drastic, she will be too!"

"You bastard…"

"It's okay, Drake…" Julie got unsteadily to her feet. "It's my turn."

"Drake." Flynn said.

"What?"

"Keep your cool. If you don't, it'll get harder to duel. No matter what they do, keep cool."

"Right."

Julie drew her card. "I play my Dark World Lightning! When it is activate, I get to destroy one facedown card on the field, then I can discard one card from my hand! So, I'll blow away Red's facedown… and discard Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, who is now special summoned (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) in attack mode."

"Good! Now she has a monster." Drake said.

"Then I activate Graceful Charity! Draw three, discard two…" she slid two monsters into the graveyard. "Heh. One of those was Sillva, Warlord of Dark World, so he is special summoned now (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) in attack mode to join Goldd. Then, I can draw one more card thanks to Broww, Huntsman of Dark World's effect."

_Good, now she's well defended._ Drake said.

"Go, Goldd, attack People Running About!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 3200 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 3100**

"Then Sillva attack him directly!"

"Oppressed People, defend him!"

"Grr… I'll end my turn."

"And I shall begin mine!" said the red fiend. He drew a card and smiled evilly. "I sacrifice Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World and Sillva, Warlord of Dark World-"

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Drake asked. "Those aren't your monsters."

"I think he knows that." Flynn said.

"What are you talking about?"

"- I sacrifice both of Julie's monsters to special summon Lava Golem (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 3000/2500) on her side of the field!"

"Why would he summon a monster on our side of the field? Especially one who's just as good as Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Drake said.

"Because every turn Lava Golem reduces the player's life points by 1000." Flynn said.

"No!" _But she can't take another hit, especially from that! I can't figure out a way to get her out of this!_

"However… since I summoned my Golem this turn, I cannot summon a monster of my own, so I'll set two cards and end my turn." The red fiend said.

"My turn." Said Flynn. He looked troubled again.

"Flynn, what's up?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, usually you never have that look." Julie said.

"I can't help Julie." He said. "I have no card that will help her now, and I think that they will probably leave that Golem there and she'll lose."

"I might have something." Drake said. "Just take your turn and give me a chance."

"Right. I may as well hurt them. I summon Lord of D. (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1200/1100) in attack mode and activate my Flute of Summoning Dragon! With it, I can special summon up to two Dragon-type monsters from my hand. So, say hello to two Blue-Eyes White Dragons (Light/Dragon, 3000/2500)!"

"No! One of us is going to die!" said the green fiend.

"Not necessarily." Said the red fiend.

"I don't like those facedowns. I play Heavy Storm and destroy them."

"Grr…" The red fiend's Mirror Force and Sakuretsu Armor were destroyed.

Drake had a sudden realization. He checked his hand. _Yes, that'll work! It'll hurt her a little, but it's better than letting her die in this duel._ He turned to Flynn. "Flynn. I've got a way out for Julie."

"You do?"

"Yes."

"Thanks, Drake." Julie said.

Boosted a little by the prospect of keeping one partner, Flynn turned back to his opponents. "Now, Blue Eyes one, attack and destroy Familiar Possessed- Wynn!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 3200 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 1950**

"Now, Blue-Eyes number two… attack the green fiend directly!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 3200 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 0**

The green fiend, depleted of his life points, exploded. "And now, because I can, Lord of D., attack the red fiend!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 4000**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 2000 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 0**

"Yes! Now it's three on two." Drake said.

"And not only that, the fiend who had his turn immediately before Julie, the point were she would be most vulnerable, is gone. I end my turn."

"My turn, and I assure you that you will pay for destroying my brother." The blue fiend drew his card. "I set a card, then attack the Lord of D. with my Giant Seasnake!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 3400**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 2000 

**Blue Fiend: 4000**

**Green Fiend: 0**

"I end my turn with a monster in defense mode."

"My turn!" Drake said. _Time for "Operation Destroy That Golem." _"I sacrifice Skilled Dark Magician and his three spell counters for Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100) from my deck. Then, I play my Knight's Title, to sacrifice him for my Dark Magician Knight (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2500/2100), and when he's summoned, I get to destroy one card on the field! Namely, Lava Golem!"

"No fair!" said the red fiend. Dark Magician Knight pointed his sword at the Golem and blew it to pieces.

"And that's not all! Both of those summonses were special, so I can still play a monster! So, I think I'll play my Skilled White Magician (Light/Spellcaster/Effect, 1700/1900) in attack mode! Now, Dark Magician Knight, attack the Giant Red Seasnake!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 3400**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 2000 

**Blue Fiend: 3300**

**Green Fiend: 0**

"Now, Skilled White Magician, attack the blue fiend directly!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 3400**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 2000 

**Blue Fiend: 1600**

**Green Fiend: 0**

"With that, I'm done."

"Thank you, Drake…" Julie said, and drew a card.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" said the red fiend.

"I'm helping to win this duel. The green fiend is gone; he can't take his turn. So, I play Gateway to Dark World! This allows me to special summon one Dark World monster from my graveyard, as long as I do not summon any other monsters this turn! So, return, Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) in attack mode! Goldd, destroy the red fiend!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 3400**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 0 

**Blue Fiend: 1600**

Green Fiend: 0 

"And now, since you have no chance of winning, I end my turn."

"My turn!" Flynn said. "For safety purposes, I play Stamping Destruction on your facedown card. This destroys it and inflicts 500 damage to your life points."

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 3400**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 0 

**Blue Fiend: 1100**

**Green Fiend: 0**

"And I'm pretty sure I know the identity of your facedown monster, so I'll activate my last card- Nobleman of Crossout!" The blue fiend's facedown Penguin Soldier was removed from play. "Now, BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON, ATTACK HIM DIRECTLY!!!"

Julie: 350 

**Flynn: 3400**

**Drake: 4000**

Red Fiend: 0 

**Blue Fiend: 0**

**Green Fiend: 0**

Both remaining fiends exploded. Since the Shadow Game was now over and her strength was no longer needed, Julie fell to the ground. Drake ran over to her and felt her pulse, half expecting her to be dead. She was still alive, but unconscious. "Doesn't it seem like they pick on her an awful lot?" He asked Flynn.

"Yes. I don't understand it, wouldn't they want to weaken the strongest members of our group? They already got Matt, why aren't they going for us now? We're better than both Keith and Julie." Flynn replied. "It doesn't seem to make sense. Is there something special about her?"

"I was thinking there might be. They've nearly killed her several times, and they pick on her the most in Shadow Games. It's a good thing that she flickers in and out when we need her, otherwise we would have been screwed a long time ago. Until she flickers in again…" Drake threw her limp body over his shoulder. He was getting quite a workout today- or rather tonight.

"DUCK!" Flynn said.

"Huh?" Drake spun around and saw a fiend running at him with incredible speed. There was no way to dodge him. Moments before he could sink his huge claw into Drake's head, though, a small hole appeared between his eyes. The fiend froze, crossed its eyes, as if trying to see the hole, then fell over backwards, dead. "Uh, what just happened?"

"It just died of a hole in its head. A hole that appeared without anything hitting it." Flynn said.

"Oh, come on, that would be totally unrealistic!" came a voice from behind them. Drake turned around and saw…

"Brooklyn! What are you doing here?"

"I sent Matt a message a while ago and he never responded. Since he is always very prompt on stuff like that, I knew something was wrong." Brooklyn walked over to them. Drake never noticed how short he really was, as he had only seen him sitting down. "Where's Keith, and what happened to Julie?" Drake recounted what had happened, aided in some parts by Flynn. Brooklyn scratched his chin.

"Hm. That's bad. I don't know as much about the Shadow Realm as Matt, but from here on out, I guess I'll have to fill in for him, at least until we find him."

"If we find him." Drake pointed out.

"We will. If I know anything about Matt- as little as it may be- it's that these fiends cannot contain him or kill him. He's too tough. But let's get going."

Drake looked at Flynn and Flynn looked back. "Brooklyn's leading us. We're screwed."

"Yep."

"Hey, come on, don't you guys have any faith in me?"

"No." Flynn said.


	36. Discovery

Chapter 36- Discovery

"So, do you have any thing else to tell us?" Drake asked Brooklyn.

"Not really. At least, nothing that you'll understand." Brooklyn responded.

"Tell us!" Flynn demanded, towering over Brooklyn, though Brooklyn was admittedly holding a laser.

"Okay… I'll talk. One of you is carrying a small gold medallion with the eye of Anubis on the center."

Flynn and Drake looked at each other. "We have no idea what you're talking about." Drake said.

"Hang on then." Brooklyn removed the thick pad from the front of his laser and reached into Julie's pocket, his hand covered in the pad. He pulled it out with his hand closed around something. "Yeah, this should be it." He opened his hand and showed the object he had described.

"Wow, I didn't know she had this." Drake said, and reached out to touch it.

"DON"T TOUCH IT!!!" Brooklyn shouted. Drake yanked his hand back. "This isn't any medallion. It's a key."

Flynn raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, the fiends were located on the surface of the Shadow Realm. We, despite any ideas you may have, are still on the very surface of the Shadow Realm. In order to get farther in, you need one of two things- either a key or a Millennium Item. The farther in you get, the more dangerous it gets- stronger creatures and the like. I discovered that they were looking for the key to level 2 of the Shadow Realm, and I tried to inform Matt, but I couldn't reach him. That's what brought me here."

"And why do we not want to touch the key?" said Drake, who was a little annoyed that Brooklyn had yelled at him.

"Well, it's also very dangerous. Touching it could drive you into the depths of despair."

"And that's dangerous… why?"

"Because it drives you into an intense despair, so intense that you go insane. Imagine, for a moment, that everything that you dread happening happens all at once."

Drake considered this. He thought about his cards being ripped up, having to kill his friends, Julie dying… _wait, where did that thought come from?_ … and he felt the crushing despair. It was enough to make him want to curl up and isolate himself from the world.

"Now picture that instead of hiding from all else, you become enraged by the injustice of it all. What would you do?" Brooklyn leaned back against the wall. "I already know what would happen. I've seen it happen once. And, by the way, the more likely a person is to fall into despair, the more the key affects them."

"What do you mean, you've seen it happen once before? Who touched it?" Drake asked. Brooklyn looked uncomfortable.

"I… don't think I'm the one to tell you."

"TELL US!" Flynn said. This time Brooklyn didn't yield.

"Let's go. The longer we wait here, the greater the chance that they will attack us here again." Brooklyn said.

"Then bring it!" Flynn said. "I want to know who touched it."

"You'll know when it's time!" Brooklyn said. He returned the key to Julie's pocket and wrapped the pad back around the barrel of his laser. "Let's go. We've got a long way to go."

"What? We've come a long way already!" Drake said. Brooklyn gave him a little smile.

"True, but that doesn't mean you still can't have a long way to go." He headed down a hallway to us right. Drake and Flynn followed him. As they continued through the Shadow Realm, Flynn leaned over to Drake and whispered into his ear.

"Who do you think it is? The one who touched the key?" Flynn said.

"It couldn't be Matt, he's too stoic." Drake said. "I think so, at least."

"Yeah, how could Matt have enough despair to activate it? But then, why would he have Julie carry it?"

"Maybe he could see his capture and decided that it would be safer for her to have it, as funny as it seems to us."

"Hmm. How could he see the future, though? And wouldn't he have seen all this trouble we're going through, and given it to someone else?"

"I think we would probably lose it if we touched it."

"I can't think of anyone who Brooklyn knows that would have touched it, then."

"Shut up, you two. I can hear every word you say. Believe me, you'll know when the time comes." Brooklyn said. Flynn looked at Drake in disbelief.

"How could he hear us? I was whispering as quietly as possible." Flynn said. Drake wondered how he could have. Drake himself could barely hear Flynn.

"Don't know." He said. Brooklyn had stopped them.

"Uh-oh." he said. There was a congregation of nearly ten intelligent fiends before them. "We can't take them all at once, and we can't kill them. Any ideas?"

"Sneak through?" Flynn suggested.

"I don't like sneaking." Brooklyn said. "And how can Drake sneak anywhere?" He glanced past the fiends. "But…"

"But what?"

"I can see a door just beyond them. A cell door."

"You don't think…?"

"Yeah, I do. I think that's where Matt is. Why else would they surround it with intelligent fiends?"

"The thing is, how do we get to him?" Flynn said. They all thought for a moment. Flynn came up with an idea first. "What if we managed to isolate each fiend and duel them individually?"

"That would work." Drake said. "But we don't have enough people. We'd need five… because this way, we'll end up with seven fiends left. That puts us all in a two-on-one duel, except for one, which will be three-on-one. And then, one of the other fiends might challenge Julie and decide he won. Remember?"

"Hmm. Good point." Brooklyn said. "We can't just wait here all the time, and engaging ourselves with more than one fiend at a time is plain stupid. We could negate the Julie disadvantage by leaving her back here… but then she is very vulnerable if another fiend appears back here. This is too hard…"

"Hang on… about sneaking through… can the fiends actually see? I've noticed that they don't have eyes." Drake said.

"No, they can't really see. They sense the presence of duelists. The non-intelligent fiends, can, of course, see, but the intelligent ones sense their surroundings." Brooklyn said. "Why?"

"Don't know. Just a potentially useful observation."

"Can we dull their senses in any way?" Flynn said. Brooklyn smiled and withdrew a string of darts from his pocket.

"I never believed Matt when he said adding a dart launcher to the side of the laser would be useful." He loaded the darts into the chamber on the side of the laser and flicked a switch. Ten shots later the fiends were knocked out on the ground. "Shall we wake one?"

"No, let's just sneak past." Drake said.

"Ah, you guys can. I'm going to have some fun." His eyes lit up in a sort of violent way that Drake hadn't thought possible from them. He moved towards the nearest fiend. Drake and Flynn stepped over the corpses of the nine other fiends and attempted to open the door. It was, of course, locked.

"Okay, we need a key. Naturally." Drake said.

"Yeah, but the question is, where is it?" Flynn asked. They scanned the unconscious fiend bodies. Sure enough, one of the fiends had a key around his neck. "Bingo." He reached for the key, only to jump back in surprise when it shocked him. "What the heck?"

"You can't take it unless you beat him in a duel. Standard Shadow Realm procedure." Brooklyn said from his duel. He tossed them a small gun. Drake caught it and stuck it to the fiend's neck, then pulled the trigger. There was no sound, but the gun shuddered and a small needle stuck out and injected something into the fiend's neck. The fiend sat up immediately.

"You. Stupid key fiend. I'm challenging you to a duel." Flynn said.

"Fine! I will make sure it is your last!" the fiend said.

"Let's duel!"


	37. Death of a Gatekeeper

Chapter 37- Death of a Gatekeeper

Flynn: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I'll go first." Said Flynn. "I set a monster in defense mode. That's all."

"Ha! Is that all?" The fiend drew a card. "I play Pot of Greed, and draw two more cards. Then, I summon Don Zaloog (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1400/1500) in attack mode! Then I activate Mustering of the Dark Scorpions! This allows me to special summon as many Dark Scorpions from my hand as I can, so long as I have Don Zaloog on the field. So, I special summon Meanae the Thorn (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1000/1800), Gorg the Strong (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1800/1500), and Chick the Yellow (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1000/1000), all in attack mode. Now, Gorg the Strong, attack his monster."

"Dragon Dwelling in the Cave." Flynn said, bored. "2000 defense."

Flynn: 4000 

**Fiend: 3800**

"Grr… I set two cards and end my turn."

"My turn." Flynn said. He no longer reacted to the strain of the Shadow Game. "I sacrifice my Dragon Dwelling in the Cave to summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv. 6 (Fire/Dragon/Effect, 2300/1600) in attack mode. Then, I attack Gorg the Strong!"

Flynn: 4000 

**Fiend: 3300**

"Since Horus destroyed a monster this turn, I can now special summon Horus Lv. 8 from my deck. (Fire/Dragon/Effect, 3000/1800) That will end my turn." Flynn yawned. "This is too easy."

"We'll see! I draw…" He smiled evilly. "Now I play Call of the Haunted, to bring back Gorg the Strong (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1800/1500) in attack mode."

"He's not very strong. At least not compared to Horus."

"Ha! He's part of a team, and everyone knows that teams work better when all members are present. I summon Cliff the Trap Remover (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1200/1000) in attack mode to complete the team!"

"So, you have five weak monsters."

"And a facedown, which I now activate! Dark Scorpion Combination!"

"No!" Flynn was suddenly alert again.

"Yes! Now, all my Dark Scorpions can attack you directly for 400 damage! Go, Dark Scorpion Combination!"

Flynn: 2000 

**Fiend: 3300**

"And now, all their special effects activate! First, Gorg. You must return one monster on your side of the field to the top of your deck. So, Horus returns to the deck.

Next, I'll use the effect of Don Zaloog. I discard a card from your hand. Third, I'll use Meanae the Thorn's effect to bring Dark Scorpion Combination to my hand. Fourth, I use Cliff the Trap Remover's effect to discard two cards from the top of your deck. Finally, I'll use Chick the Yellow's effect to check the top card of your deck… and in this case, I want it on the bottom of your deck, so it goes there! Now, is it too easy?!?"

"No." Flynn said. The last few attacks had hurt. Now, not only had he lost his best and only monster, he had lost a hand card and a couple of cards on the top of his deck. Not much fun.

"Come on, Flynn!" Drake said.

"I set a card and end my turn." The fiend said. "Come on, take your turn so I can attack directly again and win!"

"Not yet." Flynn said. He drew. "I summon Luster Dragon (Wind/Dragon, 1900/1600) in attack mode, then I attack Don Zaloog!"

Flynn: 2000 

**Fiend: 2800**

"I set a card facedown and end my turn."

"Fine then. You destroyed one Scorpion so that I can't use Dark Scorpion Combination again Fine." He drew. "Ha! I'll win this turn anyway! I play Sword of Dark Destruction on Gorg the Strong (2200)! Then, I'll attack Luster Dragon!"

"I activate my Negate Attack trap! Now you can't attack at all."

"Fine then. I'm done."

"Flynn, you should win soon. He's got nothing in his hand. He's relying completely on luck!" Drake said.

"I know!" Flynn drew a card. "I just need to blow away a couple more monsters. Or… I play Pot of Greed! So, I'll draw two more cards." Flynn smiled as he glanced at his two cards. "Almost there. I play Mirage Dragon in attack mode. Then I attack Cliff the Trap Remover with Luster Dragon and Meanae the Thorn with Mirage Dragon!"

Flynn: 2000 

**Fiend: 1500**

"That's all for now."

"Fine then. More weak monsters." The fiend drew another card. "I play Gift of the Martyr. Since Chick won't help me, I'll sacrifice him for a temporary attack boost for Gorg!"

"What happened to 'a team is better when all its members are present'?" Flynn asked.

"Never mind that! Now Gorg gains attack equal to Chick's (3200)! Attack Mirage Dragon!"

Flynn: 400 

**Fiend: 1500**

Flynn groaned from the pain. "That hurt."

"Yes, I know. Now that my turn is over, Gorg returns to normal attack points, so you're lucky there. However, if you do not do something soon, he'll walk all over your face."

"My turn." Flynn drew his card. "And that's all. I'm going to summon my Armed Dragon Lv. 3 (Wind/Dragon/Effect, 1200/800) in attack mode."

"So? He's weak!"

"Right now he his, but he'll get a lot bigger. Like when I play Level Up! Now I sacrifice him for Armed Dragon Lv. 5 (Wind/Dragon/Effect, 2400/1200) in attack mode."

"So? I can win next turn."

"No, you cannot. Because now I discard a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to activate Armed Dragon's effect, which allows me to destroy any face-up monster on your side of the field with less attack than the one I discarded. How about Gorg the Strong?"

"No!"

"Yes! Armed Dragon, destroy Gorg the Strong!"

"Crap! He was my only monster."

"And you won't get another chance to win this. Armed Dragon Level 5, attack him directly and win the duel!"

Flynn: 400 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded. Flynn fell to one knee. "Agh… stupid shadow game. Must've taken more out of me than I thought."

"Oh well." Brooklyn said, walking over. There was a large amount of blood all over him, but he was smiling. "There's no other fiends left here. Heh heh…"

"You enjoyed that?" Drake asked.

"Yeah. It's fun for me! I get to see the stupid fiends blow up! What's not fun about that?"

"You're covered in blood."

"That's the best part!"

"You're very strange."

"And proud of it!"

Flynn picked the key up off the ground. "Come on, let's open that cell." He stuck the key into the hole, turned it, and threw open the door. It was dark inside. They all stepped inside. Out of the shadows stepped… Keith!

"Keith! What happened to you?" Drake said. Keith didn't respond. Drake noticed that his eyes looked empty. He activated his duel disk and pointed at Julie's still-unconscious body that was draped over Drake's shoulder. "Huh?"

"Duel…" A raspy voice said. It was coming from Keith. "Her… you lose… and your souls."

"Huh?" Drake said.

"I think he just said that he challenged Julie to a duel, but she lost because she can't duel, and that he gets our souls." Flynn suggested. Whatever was possessing Keith nodded its head. "Great. Not this again."

"Don't worry." Brooklyn said. Keith made a dramatic gesture, and begin whatever was necessary to take a person's soul, then pointed in Drake's direction. Brooklyn stepped in the way. He pulled what looked like a solid gold turtle shell on a cord out from under his shirt. "Right of protection. You have to duel me."

An expression of disgust crossed Keith's face, but he activated his duel disk anyway. "Duel…"

"Yes, let's duel!"


	38. Fighting a Former Friend

Chapter 38- Fighting a Former Friend

Brooklyn: 4000 

**Keith(Possessed): 4000**

"…I go first…" Keith said. He drew a card. "…Set monster… end turn…"

"My turn." Brooklyn said.

"Do you think Brooklyn can take down Keith?" Drake asked Flynn. "I mean, Keith was worse than us, but how good is Brooklyn?"

"Well, as he mauled all nine of those fiends in the time it took me to take down the gatekeeper, I would say he's almost as good as Matt." Flynn responded.

Brooklyn drew his card. "I summon Mpirian Axe Man (Earth/Warrior/Effect/Mpire, 1900/1000) in attack mode! Then, I'll give him Mpirian Equipment, which gives an Mpirian monster equipped with it an extra 500 points. Attack!"

"…Sangan… when destroyed…I take monster with 1500 attack from deck and add to hand…"

"Ha! Only 600 defense points!"

"…so?"

"Mpirian Axe Man has the trample effect… in other words, whenever I attack a defense mode monster and my monster has higher attack points, it's treated as if he were in attack mode. So, I just did 1800 damage…"

"…!"

Brooklyn: 4000 

**Keith(Possessed): 2200**

"…still get to take a monster… take Kuriboh…"

"Fine then. I set a card and end my turn."

"See? I told you he was just as good as Matt." Flynn said.

"…my…turn." Keith drew a card. "Play… Tribute to the Doomed… discard one card… destroy Axe Man."

"Rats. Oh well." Brooklyn said.

"…summon… Goblin Elite Attack Force (Earth/Fiend/Effect, 2200/1500)… in attack mode. Attack…"

"I play Mpirian Emergency Call! When you destroy a monster on my side of the field and then attack directly, I can special summon one level four or lower monster from my hand. So, I'll play Chris the Monk (Light/Spellcaster/Effect/Mpire, 1700/1300) in attack mode."

"…Elite Attack Force, attack…"

"Fool. I'm- I mean he's a monk. He takes no damage from fiend or dark monsters during your battle phase."

"…oh…"

"And now the Goblins go into defense mode!"

"…set card…end turn…"

"And I'll go now." Brooklyn drew his card. "I play Mpirian Berserker (Earth/Warrior/Effect/Mpire, 2400/1000) in attack mode! He too has the trample effect, but when he attacks, he goes into defense mode, and when you attack him in defense mode, the difference between his defense points and your monster's attack points come out of my life points." Brooklyn shrugged. "Not like you'll get the chance to attack him! Chris the Monk! Attack his Elites!"

"Activate… Waboku… no damage…"

"Ah, but during my battle phase, a fiend- or dark- type monster attacked by the Monk is destroyed without applying damage calculation. I can't do any damage, but I can remove tribute material."

"And now it is time to ask that fateful question- where do they get these cards from?" Drake asked.

"Still don't know. Maybe we should ask Brooklyn after this." Flynn said. Julie groaned and looked up.

"Huh? What's going on?"

"Oh! Decided to rejoin us, huh?" Drake said, and set her down. Her legs shook but she managed to stay upright.

"Wait… Brooklyn? What is he doing here and why is he dueling Keith?"

"Don't ask. It's very complicated." Flynn said.

"I end my turn." Brooklyn said.

"…my turn…" Keith drew his card. "…activate…Soul Exchange… sacrifice… Mpirian Berserker for… Summoned Skull (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2500/1200)… next…set one card… end turn."

"Hm." Brooklyn drew a card. He smiled. "I know that's a trap card. So, I activate my Crowning As King spell card. This allows me to send one future Mpirian royal the graveyard to special summon his royal form. So, I send Chris the Monk to the Graveyard to special summon Chris, King of Mpire (Earth/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2600/1500) in attack mode! Then, I set two cards and end my turn."

"…heh heh heh… fool…" Keith drew a card. "…it isn't a trap…"

"Hm, really?"

"…no… it's not… I play Mystical Space Typhoon… on that one…"

"I activate my other card, Mpirian Charity Society! This allows me to draw three cards and discard two…" He shuffled a few cards through his hand. "Keep going."

"…that card is destroyed…"

"Oh, yes…" Brooklyn smiled a very small smile that Drake was sure that the fiend couldn't see.

"…I activate Rush Recklessly…gives my Skull more points… attack Chris…"

Brooklyn: 3400 

**Keith(Possessed): 2200**

"…hahaha…you'll lose…end turn…"

Chris showed a big smile. "Not really. One of those facedowns was a bluff." He drew a card. "I activate my Return from the Dead spell card!"

"…?"

"Since you sent it to the Graveyard, I can activate it during my Standby Phase. Now, at no cost, I'm allowed to special summon any and all Mpirian Royals from my graveyard. So, meet Chris, King of Mpire, back from the dead, as well as his buddies, Andy, Lord of Mpire (Wind/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 1900/1800), and Jeff, Lord of Mpire (Wind/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2100/1700)."

"Where… did they come from?"

"Mpirian Charity Society, of course. I discarded them. And now, with no facedown cards left, I can win right now. Chris, King of Mpire, attack the Skull!"

Brooklyn: 3400 

**Keith(Possessed): 2100**

"And now, Jeff and Andy, attack directly and win the duel!"

Brooklyn: 3400 Keith(Possessed): 0 

"Game over."

Keith let out a raspy scream and fell over. A fiend burst out of his back and exploded. Keith's soul-less body remained on the ground.

"Is he dead?" Julie said.

"Of course not." Flynn said. "He just has no soul."

"Ugh… that's terrible."

"Don't worry yet." Brooklyn said. "We still can find the Vault of Souls and release it. After that he'll be fine. Now, does anyone have a match?" Without warning the lights came on. "Ah, that's better." Everyone looked around, expecting to see something besides the walls.

"Oh no…" Julie said, and began to cry. Drake looked at the stretch of wall she was looking at to see what she was crying about. What he saw disturbed him enough to look away. Hung from the wall by steel chains was Matt's body. The face was almost unrecognizable; it was covered in multiple scratches and blood was flowing down it. Matt's right eye was closed, but his shadow eye remained open and in motion, darting around at a sickening rate. His jacket was torn nearly to shreds; blood flowed from the cuts on his arms. He had several gashes across his chest and even more on his legs. There could be no denying it after seeing it. Matt… was dead.


	39. Secrets Revealed! Matt's Hidden Past

Chapter 39- Secrets Revealed! Matt's Hidden Past

No one spoke for a long time. They had all assumed that Matt was dead, but they had never guessed that they would find him like this, horribly mangled and hanging from a wall.

Julie collapsed to the ground and continued crying. Flynn stared at the body, his eyes wide and full of surprise. Chris looked at the body once, then turned away. Drake stared at it once, then turned away, feeling the tears welling up in his eyes. As strange as Matt had been, he had been a great friend. The loss of him was something Drake could barely deal with. He had always believed that, despite all of the assertions by Keith and Flynn, they would find Matt still alive. But this, this was too real to deny the reality anymore.

Brooklyn was the first to regain his composure. "We need to go." He said. "Undoubtedly they will send more fiends after us, and I don't think we'll get as lucky as we did last time." Everyone fortified themselves against sadness and began to walk away. They had nearly left the room when they heard something.

"Uh… would someone mind…cough getting me down?" came a weak voice. Everyone spun around. Matt's other eye had opened and it was watching them. He was breathing shallowly and laboriously, but he was unmistakably and joyfully alive.

"You're alive!" Flynn said.

Matt coughed again. "Of course… ugh… that key to the cell… is for the chains too." Drake walked over and unlocked the chains. Matt fell to the ground apparently too weak to stand on his own. Julie, possessed by a crazy joy that gave her her strength back, ran over, helped (or, more accurately, picked) him up, and threw her arms around him. "Gently!" said Matt, who was in a considerable amount of pain.

"Oops, sorry." Said Julie, and let go. Matt, still weak, fell down again but managed to sit up with his back against the wall.

"So, you survived?" Brooklyn said.

Matt coughed a few more times. "Yes, but not by much. I need medical attention soon, or I'll bleed to death. Maintaining consciousness is very difficult…" He looked up at Brooklyn. "You'd better have a medkit."

"Of course." Brooklyn pulled off his backpack and pulled out a large medical kit. "And you say I never listen to you!"

"You don't." Matt said. He took the kit and pulled out a large roll of the same white bandages that usually covered his shadow eye. He made an effort to start wrapping them around his body, winced, and dropped the bandages. "Ugh… too painful…"

"Here, let me." Julie picked up the bandages and began wrapping them around Matt's bloody body.

"Thank you…" he said. "You look tired. What has happened since I was captured? I'm afraid I'm a little out of date."

"Yeah, she looks tired, and I'll bet it's your fault!" Drake said. "We know about the key; I bet you gave it to her! It's almost killed her!"

Matt grimaced. "I thought it might. But I had no choice. I cannot carry it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Brooklyn, how much have you told them?"

"Let's see… I've told them about the key and its functions, as well as its side effects. I think that's all. I didn't tell them about these." He showed his gold shell.

"Okay." Matt shifted his position. "It is time… I explained everything that I know. My past, namely."

"Finally!" Flynn said. "I've been waiting for this a long time."

"It starts nearly seven years ago. I took a trip to Egypt that year. I had a small amount of knowledge about the ancient Shadow Games, but I was not looking for anything related to them. One day, I was walking through a historic town. I entered a building that I believed to be a tourist attraction. It was actually a person's home. I noticed the key on the fireplace. There was a small plaque in front of it, written in Egyptian, but I didn't read Egyptian. So, naturally, in my curiosity, I picked it up."

"So? You couldn't have been affected by that." Drake said.

Matt smiled sadly and coughed a few more times. Julie finished wrapping the bandages around him. "Thank you, I can take it from here." Matt took the bandages and began wrapping his arms up. "It did. I was driven berserk by the despair-amplifying effects of the key. The owner of the house came down from upstairs and shouted at me. I turned and killed him on the spot. His children- I believe that they were about 5 and 8 years old- were with him. I slaughtered them mercilessly."

Julie gasped. "That's horrible!"

Matt inclined his head towards her and closed his eyes. "Yes. It was. There was blood everywhere, which, in my berserk state, made me crave more. I proceeded to kill almost the entire village. Some members of the army came later. I took particular pleasure in slowly carving each one up with a scimitar I had found somewhere.

"Then I found an interesting book in the hands of one of my victims. It detailed the practice of Shadow Alchemy, and it was in English, for some reason. Such a practice pleased me. So, I took the book and read."

"What exactly is Shadow Alchemy?" Drake asked.

"I do not know exactly." Matt finished wrapping one arm and moved onto the next one. "I know one thing: it is used to craft a Millennium Item. However, the practice is deplorable. But, of course, didn't care. To craft a Millennium Item requires a massive slaughter of human life, a condition that I had already fulfilled. I carved out a tablet from the wall of a building and proceeded to forge two extra Millennium Items: the Millennium Shell, which Chris bears, and the Millennium Star, which I bear. After I had finished forging the items, Brooklyn found me.

"By some miracle I did not kill him on sight. He knocked the key from my hand and I returned to a normal state. I realized what I had done, and took the items from my makeshift tablet. Before I could leave the town, though, the souls of all those who I had slaughtered found me and attacked me. They may have only been spirits, but they caused permanent damage- my shadow eye. It has been a curse- the curse of being isolated as a freak. I lived in solitude for a long time. Then, I felt the vibrations of the Shadow Realm with my eye. I joined this academy, hoping to stop it before it started, and obviously failed. And here we are."

There was a long silence. Nobody had expected something like this. Finally Flynn spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but I need to satiate my curiosity. Have you been following us in spirit? And how could you have been following us if you're not dead?"

"I was waiting for you to ask that." Matt pulled a small star out of his pocket. It was solid gold and had the eye of Anubis in the center. "This is the Millennium Star. IT grants… unique powers. First off, it allows me to use astrological movements to predict future events with relative accuracy."

"So you can see the future."

"No. I can guess at the future, and I have been pretty accurate recently. I can usually guess at what will happen without the Star. But this helps. The second power is strange…" He held the Star in between his hands. His outline seemed to waver for a moment, and suddenly he split up into three separate forms- the way that he was now, the Matt-spirit that had guided them through the Shadow Realm, and another form that they had never seen before- he looked incredibly sinister, wore a black cloak, and had two shadow eyes. "It split my soul. Now, my body holds one soul at a time, and the Star holds onto the other two. This is Perfect Matt…" He gestured to the first Matt-spirit, who smiled at them warmly. "…and this is Evil Matt." He gestured to the other, who snarled at them. "They are me and I am them, but with slight changes." Both vanished, leaving the normal Matt alone again. "Perfect Matt is holy; he cannot do wrong. Evil Matt is the opposite; he cannot intentionally do good, but can be convinced to do evil that does good. I can send them out from the star, with or without a physical form, but they can only retain this form for a limited amount of time.

"I have used Perfect Matt extensively here. I usually keep Evil Matt nice and safe in the Star. So yes, to answer your question, I have sent Perfect Matt out to help you through here. I would guess that you thought it was an illusion of the Shadows?"

"Yes."

"A reasonable deduction, albeit a false one. Don't let it bother you. So, that I my sad past."

"What about the Millennium Shell? What does it do?" Drake asked.

"Firstly, it gifts the bearer with an incredible endurance and hardened skin. Hit Brooklyn on the arm." Matt said. Drake leaned over and punched Brooklyn in the arm. Sure enough, his skin was not the flabby stuff that covered a normal human, but a hardened carapace. "Second, it gives the bearer the ability to protect others at his own risk. I believe you saw the right of protection only a few minutes ago."

"So that's what that was." Flynn said.

"Yes. But we need to go." With effort, Matt stood up.

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Drake said.

"Of course." He said. "Let's go. Before more fiends show up." With that, he began to walk towards the door, the others following him.


	40. Bloody Conflict

Chapter 40- Bloody Conflict

"What are we going to do about Keith?" Drake asked. He seemed to have a talent for asking the critical questions. Matt slowly turned.

"Hm… I didn't expect any of us to get caught like this. So, I guess we'll have to take him with us. We can't leave him here, otherwise the fiends might repossess him." Matt said.

"And, by the way, what are you going to do about a weapon?"

Matt smiled, reached to his right, nearly fell over, but managed to stay upright and grab his old shotgun from a rack on the wall. His bandoleer was lying next to it, for some reason it was now full. "I can still use this."

"Hey! That's my shotgun!" Brooklyn said. Matt gave him the same look he had when Brooklyn had said that the first time Brooklyn had said this, snapped the barrels open, and shut them again. "B-but you can keep using it."

"I seem to recall telling you not to touch that laser."

"S.C.A.N. told me to take it!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you can ask him when we get back."

"I will. But no more time for arguing; we need to get out of here." Matt limped out of the room, shotgun steady. "Come on, or are you going to wait for more fiends to come?" Flynn threw Keith's body over his shoulder and followed Matt out the door, closely followed by Drake, Brooklyn and Julie. Before long they heard two blasts and there were three fiends dead before Matt. He reloaded the shotgun and turned toward the others.

"A little slow, aren't you?" He said.

"Uh, Matt, maybe you should take it easy for a while?" Julie suggested. "You're still hurt…"

"I know, but it doesn't matter. We need to keep going, and I can't afford to not pull my own weight around here. It only gets harder from here on out. This way…" He lead them down a series of very dark hallways that, for some reason, had no fiends at all.

"Where is everyone?" Drake asked.

"They can't come here." Matt said. "I created these corridors just in case something like this happened. No one but Brooklyn and me knows about them. Remember, because I possess a Millennium Item, I can warp the reality of the Shadow Realm. I made these about a year ago. At least, I think no one should know about them…" A single rifle shot echoed over their heads. "I stand corrected." Matt dropped to the ground. Drake leveled his rifle. He could just barely see the head of a fiend up ahead. He aimed a little lower and pulled the trigger. The fiend's weapon dropped to the ground with a clatter as its owner died.

"Nice shot." Flynn said. "I couldn't even see him."

"I saw a little hump up ahead. So I shot a little lower." Drake said.

"Good. Let's get moving again." Matt said, getting up from the prone position.

"You're not going anywhere!" came a fiend's voice. He moved closer to them. "You survived?!?"

"Yes." Matt said.

"And you escaped?!?"

"Obviously. Do you plan on doing something about it?"

"Yes! I challenge you! You're so weak, you can hardly duel!"

Matt's eyes (both of them) narrowed. "Is that so?"

"Of course it is! Look at yourself, you're wrapped in bandages!"

"Let's go then."

The fiend was suddenly struck with indecision. "Uh, maybe not."

Matt snorted. "All bark, no bite."

"I am not!"

"You seem to be to me. Prove that you're not."

"Fine!"

"Let's duel!"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I'll go second." Matt said. "Since you seem unable to make a decision for yourself."

"Grr… fine! I draw…" The fiend stared at his hand. He seemed unable to decide which card to use. Matt rolled his eyes. "I play, er… uh, a monster in defense mode!"

"Legendary Jujitsu Master." Matt said, bored. "Earth, Rock, Effect, 1300, 1800, any monster attacking with less attack than his defense is destroyed. Correct?"

"How did you…?"

Evil Matt appeared next to Matt. He was smiling evilly. "He told me. Usually I play fair, but sometimes he chooses not to listen to me. I can't stop him from telling me stuff. And, I must say, it is very useful. Now, my turn." Matt drew a card. "I summon Mpirian Knight (Light/Warrior. 1900/1600) in attack mode!" Matt groaned as the Shadow Game kicked in. "Damn. Oh well."

"I've never seen Matt affected by a Shadow Game, is that strange?" Julie asked. "He must be weaker than he let on."

"Of course he is! Look at him." Flynn said. "He's bleeding through the bandages."

"Oh! That's not good!" Julie said.

"No, really?!?" Brooklyn said.

"No, I mean really bad! If he can bleed through those bandages, then he is very close to death by blood loss! Those are very thick bandages. He should be pretty short of breath right now. Why would he get into this duel? He probably knew that something like this was happening." Sure enough, Matt looked like he was breathing a lot faster than normal due to lack of oxygen, and sweat was starting to bead on his forehead.

"Mpirian Knight, attack his monster!"

"Oh, well. No damage to me." The fiend said. "And you're getting weaker by the second."

Matt took a deep breath. "I set one card facedown and end my turn."

"Fine then!" The fiend drew a card. "I set one card facedown, and another monster in defense mode. Your turn!"

"Hmm… what to do." Matt said, and drew a card. "I didn't expect you to attack, oh no, but I didn't expect such inactivity."

"Ha! You just think its inactivity."

"Actually, I would argue that you are just waiting to see if my strength will give… if I had the strength to." Matt frowned and moved his hand slowly to his heart. "But I don't, so I'll let my moves speak for me. I play Old Guy Named Jeb (Light/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/1600) in attack mode. I attack your monster!"

"That was my Magical Merchant! Now I pick up cards from the top of my deck until I pick up a magic or trap card from the top of my deck. So, let's see…" He picked up one card. "Ha! Smashing Ground!"

"Doesn't matter yet. I attack you directly!"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 2100**

"With that, I think I'll end my turn."

"It will be your last!" The fiend drew a card. "I activate Smashing Ground! This allows me to destroy your knight!"

Matt groaned. Several drops of his blood hit the ground. Julie turned and threw up. Despite the fact that she was the designated medic, she seemed to lose her lunch (what was left of it) at the sight of any kind of carnage.

"Next, I remove Legendary Jujitsu Master from the graveyard to special summon Gigantes (Earth/Rock/Effect, 1900/1000) in attack mode! Then, I'll normal summon Sand Moth (Earth/Rock/Effect, 1000/2000) in attack mode!"

"What, do you expect me to spike that with an effect?" Matt said. "I know the effect."

"I don't care what you know! The thing is, I'm about to smash through your defenses! Gigantes, destroy the Old Man!"

"Ow…"

"And when Gigantes is destroyed, all facedown cards on the field are destroyed."

"No!"

"Ha! I managed to fool you! Now Sand Moth, attack him directly!"

Matt: 3000 

**Fiend: 2100**

"I'll end my turn."

"Ugh… that hurt. Strange." Matt said.

"We need to pull him out of there!" Julie said.

"You know we can't." Brooklyn said. "I'm sure Matt told you that."

"Well, actually, she was dueling when Matt told us about that." Drake said. "And she was getting killed, I doubt she heard him."

"Yeah, the only ones who know that are me and Drake… and you and Matt, of course." Flynn said.

"Oh, well." Brooklyn turned back to Julie. "Okay, quick lesson. You cannot interrupt a Shadow Game. Simple as that. You'll probably die if you try."

"Oh… but he's going to die."

"No he's not."

"LOOK AT HIM!!!"

"I am. I've seen him in a lot worse condition."

"A LOT WORSE?!? HE'S BLEEDING THROUGH BANDAGES THAT ARE NEARLY A QUARTER INCH THICK!!!"

"Julie, keep your cool." Flynn said. "Yelling like this does not help." She opened her mouth, as if to start yelling at Flynn, but then closed it and broke down sobbing. "What did I do?"

"Oh, it's not you… I can't take this any more. I can't stand the constant death and stuff… it's painful. I can't stand seeing you all almost dying all around me…" She sobbed. Drake crouched down next to her.

"Julie." He said. "I know how you feel. I've had the same problem watching you duel, and you've been nearly killed much more than us. But, come on, when has Matt ever lost?"

"Uh, never…"

"All we have to do is trust that he will keep winning. Don't worry, I think that Matt is the kind of person who won't die until he's won this game."

"A motivating thought." Flynn said.

"Heh. An accurate assessment." Matt said. He had heard the whole thing. He turned back to the fiend. "I won't lose this. Are you done?"

"No, I think I'll stand here for another hour and let you die."

"Cheat."

"Ha! I don't have to cheat to beat you, you fool. I'm done. I think I'll kill you next turn, and then I will destroy your little friends!"

"No… you won't." Matt drew a card. "Even if you manage to beat me, you won't beat all of them. They will destroy you, and I'll laugh from wherever I am."

"You'll be locked up in the Vault of Souls, where you will suffer for eternity!"

"Not yet I'm not…" Matt's voice was getting fainter. "I'm going to win this turn."

"How?!? You have so little it's hilarious."

"You only think that." Matt removed a card from his graveyard. "This is called The Mpirian Spell of Return. If you destroy this card while it is still facedown, then all the monsters that you destroyed that turn are special summoned on my next turn. So, welcome back Mpirian Knight and Old Guy Named Jeb. So, I have nothing?"

"What?!?"

"Old Guy Named Jeb, attack and destroy his Sand Moth!"

Matt: 3000 

**Fiend: 1200**

"Now, Mpirian Knight, finish him!"

Matt: 3000 

**Fiend: 0**

"Fatality." Matt said, and the fiend exploded.

"He did it." Julie said, relieved. Then Matt, exhausted from all his injuries and the Shadow Game, collapsed into a small pool of blood.


	41. Advanced Tactics

Chapter 41- Advanced Tactics

Julie panicked. She rushed to Matt's inanimate side and began to feel for a pulse or some other vital sign. The others stayed back. After a while she calmed down.

"Oh… he's alive…" she said.

"Of course he is!" Drake said. "He's freakin' invincible! He just needs some time."

"Only one problem with that." Flynn said. "We don't have time. We need to keep moving or we're sitting ducks. And with another unconscious body in our little group, we're even more vulnerable." At that moment, Matt stood up with a groan and shook his head. Somehow, he looked a little… different.

"Let's go." He said. His voice was a little musical, in a way. "We need to get moving again."

"Yes, that's what we figured." Flynn said. "But shouldn't you take a break?"

"Not yet. I can't afford to rest until this is over."

"That last time you said that, it nearly got you killed!" Julie said. She seemed a little too concerned for his welfare. Matt just smiled.

"It's alright. I'll be fine." He said. Flynn gave Julie and Drake a doubtful look but stopped arguing with him. They would never change his mind anyway. They finished their trip down Matt's hallway and entered into the regular body of the shadow realm. As seemed to be the pattern of the day, they were surrounded by fiends.

"OH SHIT!" Flynn shouted. It was becoming his trademark battle cry. The fiends who were facing them opened fire. Matt ruthlessly grabbed one of the fiends who had their backs to them, unloaded one shell into its head, and began to use it as a shield. He leveled his shotgun on the crowd and unloaded his second barrel. Several of the fiends were injured and two were killed. Flynn flung Keith's body off to the side and leveled his own rifle. Drake pulled out his 74 and began shooting while strafing to the left, towards Matt, who had thrown the body away and taken refuge behind a pillar.

"Hello, good sir." He said, scooting over to make room for Drake. Several shots from the fiends ricocheted off the stone. "We need to give Flynn and Julie some cover!" He blindly fired his shotgun around the corner.

"What about Brooklyn?!?" Drake said. He wondered, had Matt forgotten his own brother?

"Brooklyn will be fine!" Matt said. He pointed across the room. Brooklyn had taken cover behind a pile of bodies that he had probably created himself. Matt loaded two more shells into his shotgun and unloaded it blindly around the corner again. "Come on, I'm extremely ineffective at this range!" He switched positions with Drake and began to reload. Drake leaned around the corner and began to fire at the fiends. Several of them were advancing rapidly towards Flynn and Julie, using the pillars as cover. They were not, however, covered from Drake's fire, and he picked apart three of them before they realized what was happening. They fell back far enough to prevent their vulnerability, and took to firing at long distance.

Flynn and Julie were still pined down. "We need to get closer to the fiends!" Matt shouted. "Actually… Brooklyn!"

"What?!?" Brooklyn shouted back.

"Push the button!"

"Which one?!? There's about ten of them!"

"The one with the crosshairs on it!" Matt shouted. Brooklyn pressed said button. The barrel of his laser extended outwards and a scope flipped out of the top of the gun to replace the iron sight. The stock extended and a bipod flipped down from near the muzzle.

"Ooooo, a sniper rifle!" Brooklyn said. He took careful aim at the closest fiend and melted its head with one shot. "This is fun!"

"Just keep firing, Brooklyn!" Matt shouted. Drake leaned around the corner, trying to get a good shot at a fiend, but he was chased back by gunshots. "Just let Brooklyn take them out! Don't waste the ammo!" Slowly, steadily, Brooklyn knocked off the fiends. Then one of their shots came deadly close to his head.

"Sniper!" He shouted from side to side. "GET DOWN!" A shot flew over Flynn's head and he went prone on the ground, Julie dropping down the join him.

"Darn it!" Matt shouted. "We can't go anywhere with that sniper!" He looked quickly out from behind the pillar he had moved to. He ducked back very quickly as a bullet flew past his face. "Darn it! Hang on, I'm going to try and get closer!"

"You're insane!" Drake said. "This guy is fast, and you're so hurt that I doubt you can move fast enough to avoid him!" Matt smiled maniacally, then rolled out from behind the pillar and managed to duck behind another before the sniper shot another round down the hall.

"Give me some covering fire!" Matt yelled. Drake blindly fired around the corner at the sniper, who shot at his hand and missed. Drake pulled the gun back around the corner. Flynn and Julie fired single shots, but both ducked buck under cover when the sniper shot a round just over Julie's head. Brooklyn took another careful shot, and the firing stopped just long enough for Matt to get closer… and vanish.

"Hey, where'd he go?" Drake shouted.

"Not a clue!" Brooklyn shouted back. "He's a ninja!"

"A ninja with a taste for shotguns?!?" Drake shouted back.

"Don't ask!"

There was a loud blast from the end of the hall and a fiendish death cry. Matt was standing directly behind the fiend, his shotgun smoking, and the fiend had one large bloody hole in his stomach. The fiend fell to the ground and dropped his sniper rifle. Matt picked it up.

"Could be useful." He said, slung the rifle, and picked a few rounds of ammo from the fiend's vest. Everyone came out from their cover and regrouped with Matt. "Okay, now that that little crisis is over with, let's move on, shall we?" He reloaded his duck gun and turned toward the next hallway. There was a large door in the hall. "Hmm…"

"Can't you blow it down?" Flynn asked.

"No, this is a special door. It is unaffected by physical damage. We will need to solve this little riddle…" He traced the lines of type on the wall. "Hmm… difficult to translate. I know quite a few languages, but this is one I'm not familiar with… it looks like some combination of Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian, but…" He scratched his chin. "…I've never seen this variant."

There was the sound of stone crunching behind them. They all spun on the spot. An entire army of fiends was behind them!

"OH SHIT!!!" Flynn shouted, and threw himself away from the door, behind a pillar. Their stealth now destroyed, the fiends whipped out there heavy weapons and opened fire.

"MOVE!!!" Matt yelled, and pushed Drake out of the way. For some reason Drake had frozen in shock. "COME ON!!!" He grabbed Julie by the scruff of the neck and yanked her out of the way. She had frozen too. Unfortunate consequence of Matt's heroics- he didn't get out of the way fast enough, and took two shots in the same leg. "Oh, shoot…" He slid down a pillar, unable to support his own weight any longer. He reached around the corner with his shotgun and pulled the trigger. "Come on! Return fire!"

Drake came to his senses. He ducked behind a pillar and opened fire on the fiends from his cover. He heard a strange beeping noise ignored it. That could wait. He leaned around the corner and pulled the trigger a few times, then looked up and saw a small pack attached to the pillar. Matt, who had his back to the pillar that was immediately in front of Drake, seemed to notice it too.

"GET AWAY FROM THE PILLARS!!!" He shouted. "They're rigged to explode!"

"What about you?!?" Julie said.

"Leave me! I can't move!" Matt said.

"No!" Julie grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up.

"Don't be a hero, darn it!" He said. "Save yourself! You're more important to the mission than I am! You're the only one who can hold that key! The world needs you alive! GO!" She let his arm drop, and, reluctantly it seemed, she ran back with Drake, periodically shooting over her shoulder at the fiends. The beeping got faster.

"Time to haul ass!" Drake said. They put on a burst of speed, hoping the Flynn and Brooklyn would make it out in time- Flynn could probably make it easy, but Brooklyn, laden with a backpack and that huge laser, probably couldn't move very fast. The beeping continued to speed up, then finally became one long beep. There was a loud explosion, the sound of architecture crumbling, and the sounds and smells of dying fiends. Drake threw himself forward, trying to put as much as distance between him and the flames as he could, and was mostly successful. The flames licked at his shoes, charring the bottoms, but it was negligible.

Drake rolled out of the dive and saw that Julie had almost perfectly imitated him. He smiled at the ridiculousness of it, but stopped smiling when he saw the silent tears running down Julie's face. There was no need to ask why. It was clear this time, definite. There was no way that Matt could have survived the inferno. Matt had finally died.


	42. The Door to Nowhere

Chapter 42- The Door to Nowhere

For a moment Drake sat there and let the terrible reality wash over him. There was no possible way for Matt to come back from this one. No one could survive that much stone falling on top of them, on top of all the other injuries Matt had sustained. Julie didn't seem to mind, she was still crying into her hands. Several minutes passed and still the only sound was Julie's sobbing. Then she managed to stop long enough to speak.

"Why?" she said. "Why did he have to save me?"

"What are you talking about?" Drake said, but he thought he knew.

"Back there, when we were attacked, he pushed you away and grabbed me to get me out of the way, but when he did, he got shot in the leg. So, it's my fault that he died… if only I hadn't been so slow!" she said.

"Julie, it's not your fault…"

"Yes it is! I could have moved… then he wouldn't have died…"

"Why is it that you've cracked every time that Matt got hurt or when you saw him near death?" Drake asked. He had been wondering about this for a long time now, and he had finally gotten an opportunity to find out. Julie looked into his eyes.

"I…I think that I loved him…"

This shocked Drake. He had known that Julie had felt some attachment to Matt, and he suspected that Matt had felt something towards Julie (if he could feel at all), but he would never have suspected that her attachment had run this deep. He slid over next to her and put one arm around her shoulders, hoping to comfort her. "Julie. Calm yourself." She sniffed once more and stopped crying. "Matt wouldn't have wanted you to feel bad about this. He knew what he was getting into. Actually, I think he's the only one of our group that knew. He would have wanted you to keep your head up and fight on. He would have wanted you to finish this off and help to save the world from these fiends."

"How do you know?" she sniffed.

"I can feel it. I can just feel it." Drake stood up. "Come on, let's go find Flynn and Brooklyn." He offered her his hand. She gladly took it and stood. "But, hell, where are they?"

"Probably on the other side of this room. Over… that way." She said. They began to walk across the rubble-filled room. They found several fiends, crushed dead under the heavy stones. "Wait…" Julie moved off to the side.

"Hang on a minute, Julie!" Drake said. He could guess where she was headed and didn't think that it would do her any good. She ignored him and continued to pick her way across the room. Drake groaned and followed her. He caught up to her standing over another body covered in rubble. "You just had to come here, didn't you?"

"Yes…I had to give him my last respects." She said. As Drake had guessed she had come to the spot where they had last seen Matt. His body was laying under about three particularly large stones that had fallen across his body. His face was still exposed; it bore a strangely peaceful look. He seemed to be lying in a pool of his own blood. Julie sniffled once and turned away. "Okay, let's go." She turned to walk away and almost ran into Flynn. "Oh, hello."

"Yes, I thought I'd find you here." He said, and readjusted Keith's body on his shoulder. "So, he's finally had it?"

"It would seem that way." Drake said. Flynn bowed his head. Brooklyn stepped out from behind him.

"Oh, no." He said quietly, and joined Flynn in his head-bowing. They stood there for a while before Drake interrupted them.

"I don't mean to interrupt this moment of silent reverence, but we should get going before we get ambushed again." He said.

"Yes, I agree." Brooklyn said. "But the thing is, we can't get much farther. None of us can get the riddle on the door."

"Let's go take another look at it." Flynn suggested. "You know, just for the heck of it." No one objected, and a minute later they stood before the sealed door again. Flynn set his hand against the door and pushed, to no avail. He traced the writing with his finger. "Well, it's official, I have no clue what this says."

Julie got closer to the door and laid her hand on it. The door glowed white and slid open. Julie jumped away. "What the…?"

"I have no clue what just happened…" Drake said. "…but at least we opened the door!" It was all black beyond it. "Hey, can anyone see beyond the doorway?"

"Nope." Brooklyn said. "I can't see a thing!"

"Nor can I." Flynn said.

"It seems completely dark through there." Julie said.

"Who wants to go first?" Drake asked. No one spoke.

"Well don't all jump up at once." Flynn said. "Drake, as you asked first, I elect that you go first."

"What?!? Oh, boo." Drake said, and faced the blackness. "Anyone got any ideas where this goes?"

"Well, apparently, there are some doors in the Shadow Realm that simply don't go anywhere." Brooklyn said.

"And if you step through one of those?"

"You can't. There's nowhere in one. It's actually physically impossible to step through one. So, if you try to, it'll feel like you ran into a wall. So, no worries, unless you drop into a room filled with fiends."

Drake swallowed. The prospect of falling into a room loaded with fiends was frightening. He took one look back at the others, turned back through the door, and stepped through. There was nothing under his foot as he tried to set it down, and he pitched forward into the darkness.

He fell for what felt for nearly forever. He could feel the wind rushing past his face. He didn't see or hear any of the others, so he assumed that they had not followed. After what felt like ten minutes, the darkness began to clear up and some light began to filter into view. He could see the floor, about a hundred yards farther down. He would die on contact with the floor. He braced himself for impact as he neared the ground, but the hit never came. He opened his eyes to see that he was hovering an inch above the ground. Drake set his feet down and whatever had been holding him up let go.

Drake looked around and saw no fiends waiting for him. He began to walk down the hall when Julie fell behind him. She experienced the same floating phenomenon that Drake had but was unable to stand up before the force released her and fell flat on her face.

"Ow…" she said, and stood up. "Oh, so you haven't gone anywhere."

"Of course not. I just landed a few seconds ago."

"Hmm. Strange. I jumped about five minutes after you did, and yet I get here just a little after you do? Hang on, I think Flynn and Brooklyn jumped after me." Seconds later, Flynn and Brooklyn floated down.

"Hello. Everyone alright?" Flynn said.

"Yes, no thanks to you." Drake said. "But that's not the point. There's a passageway over there. Let's roll." They walked down the hall, picking off the fiends that they saw. Now that Matt was gone, it seemed, they paid special attention to Julie. Having killed the biggest threat amongst them, they now turned back to their favorite hobby- attacking the most important person to the group.

"Well, this sucks." Flynn said, shooting a fiend through the eye. "They're going after Julie again. Just stay down."

"Whatever." Julie said, and backed up a little. An intelligent fiend walked around the corner.

"You! With the 74! I challenge you to a duel for all your souls!" he said.

"Is he talking to me?" Drake asked.

"I would guess so." Brooklyn said. "As there are no other guns in this group with '74' in the name."

"Okay, blockhead, let's do this!"

The fiend smiled a very evil smile. "Yes, let's."

"Let's duel!"


	43. Higher Stakes Duel

Chapter 43- High(er) Stakes Duel

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

The fiend continued to smile evilly. "So, have you enjoyed your past Shadow Games?"

Drake frowned, a little confused. "No, I can't say I have."

"Oh, that's a shame, but that's also a good thing."

"Huh?"

"Since it's no fun doing the same thing over and over again, as you have, I thought that I would make a few changes… keh keh keh…"

"Uh oh, evil laugh." Drake turned to the others. "This can't be- hey, where'd Julie go?" Everyone turned around.

"She's not here!" Flynn said. "She was right behind me!"

"Oh, shoot." Brooklyn said. "I don't like this new thing already… it makes people disappear!"

"She isn't gone!" the fiend said. "I said there would be a new twist to this game… here it is!" The wall of the room slid back. By some strange power of the realm, Julie had been transported behind it. She was now chained to the wall inside the new little room that had been revealed. She looked confused.

"What's going on?!?" she said. "How the hell did I get over here?!?"

"The new twist is this! Instead of you taking damage to support your monsters and absorb the attacks, all damage will be deflected to your friend over there! And, if that wasn't enough, just for fun, every time you take 100 points of damage, a small, nontoxic dart will be shot out of that barrel over there…" The fiend pointed to a large rotary barrel on the other side of the room. "…and into a nonfatal part of your friend! There are 40 darts total, so they'll shoot until you run out of life points. And the last one has a particularly large tip, long enough to pierce the heart, and is also coated in a particularly slow-working and fatal poison. So, when you lose the duel, before you lose your soul, you'll get the fun of watching the slow, tragic demise of your friend! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Your sick!"

"What do you expect? I'm a _fiend_. I'm supposed to be evil."

"But this is particularly sick."

"Thank you."

"I think I'll let you go first."

"Fine then! I can win easy." The fiend drew a card.

Drake looked at Julie. She looked back at him. _Don't worry, Julie._ Drake thought. _I'll save you if I have to fight through hell or the nearest equivalent. _

"Ahem, it is my turn." The fiend said. Drake turned his gaze to him. "I think I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fine then, my turn." Drake drew his card. _I have to win this as fast as possible. I can't let Julie get hurt any more than she already has been. So, let's see…_ "I summon my Queen's Knight (Light/Warrior, 1500/1600) in attack mode! Attack his facedown monster!"

"Ha! That was The Thing in the Crater! When he's destroyed, I get to special summon any Pyro-Type monster from my hand. So, I'll bust out my Twin-Headed Beast (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 1700/1900) in attack mode."

"Oh. Well, I'll just set a card facedown and end my turn."

"Fine then! I draw…" He smiled evilly. "This should make things interesting… I activate Hinotama! This card deals 500 points of damage to your life points!"

Drake: 3500 

**Fiend: 4000**

"No!" Drake said, and looked quickly at Julie. The rotary barrel had begun to spin, and it fired five shots with nearly no sound. Julie screamed as five little darts imbedded themselves in her exposed right arm. Little droplets of her blood began to fall from the small wounds. "You bastard…"

"Ha! I see that you don't like it. That's good, it'll make this more fun! Now, I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown!"

"I'll just activate it, Rush Recklessly! Now the Queen's Knight gains 700 attack points, so you can't destroy her (2200)."

"Fine then. I'll just set a card, summon Darkfire Soldier (Fire/Pyro, 1700/1150) in attack mode, and end my turn."

"Okay. My turn." Drake drew his card. _I have to win this before I take any more damage._ _Otherwise, Julie will get hurt even more._ "I summon my King's Knight (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1600/1400) in attack mode!"

"So? Neither he nor your woman can take down my beast!"

"Ah, but when she's on the field and I summon the King's Knight, I can special summon the Jack's Knight (Light/Warrior, 1900/1600) from my deck!"

"Oh! No fair!"

"Oh, it's fair! Jack's Knight, attack his Beast!"

Drake: 3500 

**Fiend: 3800**

"At least you can't break through my Soldier…"

"You have one turn until I do. I end my turn."

"Fine then! I draw…" He smiled. "Look's like it's time to burn! I activate Final Flame! This deals 600 damage to your life points!"

"Not again!"

Drake: 2900 

**Fiend: 3800**

The rotary barrel began to spin again and fired six more darts, five into Julie's right arm and another into her left. She screamed again as each dart hit her individually, and her head went limp after the last shot. Drake gave the fiend a venomous stare.

"You bitch… fight the person you're dueling, not his friends!"

"Ah, but this is much more fun! I love the pain I know you're feeling!"

"Asshole… I'll kill you!"

"I'm afraid that'll have to wait, as it is my turn. Now, I'll summon my Blazing Inpachi (Fire/Pyro, 1850/0) in attack mode! Darkfire Soldier, attack his King's Knight!"

Drake: 2800 Fiend: 3800 

"Now, Inpachi, destroy the Queen's Knight!"

Drake: 2450 

**Fiend: 3800**

The rotary barrel began to spin again, and fired three more darts into Julie's right arm. She screamed in pain again, then slumped back down. More little drops of her blood dropped from her new wounds and hit the ground. Drake snarled at the fiend.

"You're dead."

"Not yet. And I doubt I will be. Look at the life points! I'm thrashing you."

"Not for long. Are you done?"

"Of course not. I'll set a facedown so that Knight can't break in."

"Fine." Drake drew his card. "I summon my Skilled Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/1700), then 'Space' your facedown card!"

"Grr… that was Mirror Force."

"I know, that's why I spaced it! Now, Jack's Knight, destroy the Blazing Inpachi!"

Drake: 2450 

**Fiend: 3750**

"Now, Skilled Dark Magician, destroy his Darkfire Soldier!"

Drake: 2450 

**Fiend: 3550**

"I set another card and end my turn."

"Fine then. I'll just have to break it." The fiend top-decked a card. "I play Pot of Greed! Now, I'll just draw two cards…" He grinned evilly again as he drew the cards. "Aw, looks like it'll be more pain and suffering for your girlfriend! I activate Ookazi, which will do 800 more damage to you!"

Drake: 1650 

**Fiend: 3750**

The rotary barrel resumed its spinning motion and fired eight more darts. Five more hit Julie's right arm, and two laced her left leg, but the last dart climbed and hit her in the stomach. She began thrashing against the chains that held her and screaming in pain. Drake felt like he was about to explode, the fiend had said that it would only hit her in nonfatal areas! "You jackass, you lied!"

The fiend shrugged but was smiling evilly again. "It's a rotary barreled machine gun, of course one or two of the shots are going to go off target. Not my fault."

"You could have gotten an accurate weapon for this!"

"Watching you squirm as your little girlfriend gets slowly killed is more fun, though! And I'm a fiend, I want to see this kind of stuff. Now, I'll set another monster and end my turn."

"It had better be good, for what I have in store to rip you apart with." Drake said. "I sacrifice my Skilled Dark Magician with three spell counters in order to special summon Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100) from my hand in attack mode! Then, I'll use him to pick apart your facedown monster!"

"Hehe… UFO Turtle, which will now allow me to special summon one Fire attribute monster with 1500 or less attack points to my side of the field in attack mode. So, I'll call out a second UFO Turtle (Fire/Machine/Effect, 1400/1200)!"

"And I will gladly cut it down! Jack's Knight, attack his Turtle!"

Drake: 1650 

**Fiend: 3250**

"And now, since you destroyed him, I can special summon another monster! So, I'll call out my Solar Flare Dragon (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 1500/1000) in attack mode! And now, your turn should be over!"

"It is."

"Then let the destruction begin!" The fiend drew a card. "This is exactly what I wanted! I remove the Darkfire Soldier in my Graveyard to special summon my Spirit of Flames (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 1700/1000) in attack mode! Now that he's on the field, you are unable to attack my Flare Dragon! And, during my Battle Phase, the Spirit gains 300 attack points! So, I'll destroy that annoying Jack's Knight!"

Drake: 1550 

**Fiend: 3250**

There was a little _pift _as the rotary barrel fire another dart. It hit Julie just above the last one, climbing a little higher on her stomach. _That bastard,_ _he's doing this on purpose!_ Drake thought. _If it gets any higher, it'll be fatal!_ He returned his focus to the fiend. "Are you done?"

"Yes, and because I am, my Flare Dragon does 500 damage to your life points!"

"No!"

Drake: 1050 

**Fiend: 3250**

Five more darts fired out of the rotary barrel and hit Julie in her left leg again. She convulsed impulsively and screamed out in pain again. "Make it stop… make it stop…" Drake heard her moan. She sounded like she was losing consciousness.

"Julie! Hang on!" Drake shouted. _Okay, need a big play. Let's see…_ Drake drew another card. "Come on, special summoning cards… this'll do. I activate my Knight's Title in order to sacrifice Dark Magician to summon Dark Magician Knight (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2500/2100) in attack mode. And because he was special summoned, I get to destroy any card on the field! Like your Spirit!"

"No! Now my Dragon is vulnerable!"

"Got that right, and I have just the right attack battery to finish you off this turn! I summon my Mpirian Warrior (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1500/1200) in attack mode! Now, I can special summon as many more as I can! So, I call two more from my deck."

"No!"

"Oh, yes! Your torturing days are over. Dark Magician Knight, attack the Flare Dragon!"

Drake: 1050 

**Fiend: 3250**

"Now, Mpirian Warriors, finish him!"

Drake: 1050 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded, as usual. Drake ran over to Julie, ripped the chains off (they were actually kinda rusty), and held Julie in his arms. "Are you okay?" He whispered in her ear.

"Ugh…I…" Julie fainted. Drake yanked the darts out of her body. There seemed to be purple dots surrounding the small wounds. Drake wondered what they were.

"Drake, we need to get moving! Get out of there!" Brooklyn shouted.

"Right! Uh, why?"

"Because I can hear the fiends coming, and there's a lot of them!"

"Okay!" Drake jumped down from the little alcove, carrying Julie's body in both arms. Flynn and Brooklyn had followed him across the room. He walked up to them. "I think something was wrong with those darts… she's breaking out into purple spots."

Brooklyn looked troubled. "I don't know what that is, but it can't be good. Let's move." He turned to go down the hallway and met up with several fiends. He opened fire with his laser and began to back away. Drake threw Julie's body over his shoulder, unslung his AK-74su and opened fire. He began to back away as the fiends kept coming, and ran into another wall of fiends. He ducked and opened fire on them, but then a strong claw grabbed him from behind. Julie's body slid off his shoulder. Another hand knocked his rifle to the ground as he raised it. The first hand lifted him off the ground.

A fiend had grabbed every one of them. An intelligent fiend was smirking in the background. "Good, very good. The boss will be very pleased to have them alive. He wanted them to be out of the way, and now he can put them out of the way permanently… all by himself. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The fiend continued laughing for a while. Drake struggled against his fiend captor. He received a gash on his arm for his troubles. "Don't even bother trying to escape. Without that freak to help you, you are completely helpless while those fiends are holding you. Now, I shall bring you to the boss and he will remove your souls! Then, he will finally be able to focus on taking over the world! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


	44. A Close Shave

Chapter 44- A Close Shave

"Though…" the fiend said. "I think that, to avoid any trouble on the way to the boss, I'll have to steal your souls here."

"WHAT?!?" Drake said. "You can't do that!"

"I can't… but they can, and I can order them to do so!" The fiend signaled to the largest and ugliest of the fiends. The brute smiled and roared. The other unintelligent fiends looked at him, then slowly smiled. Drake's fiend held its claw up to his face- and suddenly the claw wasn't there anymore. All that was left was a bloody stump. Drake's eyes widened in surprise. Three of the other fiends seemed to share his surprise, then began to advance on Drake, hoping to complete the task.

Then suddenly they had each lost their heads. The bodies flipped limply over. Drake elbowed his fiend in the stomach, causing it to drop him. Drake dropped to the ground, hoping to avoid whatever was killing the fiends, and watched from there. Flynn and Brooklyn had taken similar cover. He watched as something cut up every fiend that came near them. One of the fiends ran at Julie's still inanimate body, a huge sword in his hand instead of the usual terrorist assault rifle. A black shape appeared in front of him, caught the sword on a pair of small knives, and cut the fiend into tiny pieces with blinding speed. Drake had caught a quick glimpse of whatever it was when it had stopped to block the sword.

Whatever it was wore a long black cloak with a hood. Drake hadn't gotten a good look at his face but he had noticed that the lower half of the black cloak's face was covered in a black shroud. He had noticed in the moment that the cloak had flared up that everything else the thing wore was black. The best way to describe the thing was that it looked like a ninja.

Soon there was nothing left of the fiend army except the intelligent fiend and a large pool of blood. Whatever it was had single-handedly done what the three of them had been unable to do. The thing now stood in front of the intelligent fiend, who looked absolutely dumbfounded.

"How did you take out all of those fiends without so much as a scratch?!?" said the fiend.

"A little speed goes a long way." Said the ninja-thing. Despite the fact that he was wearing a mask, his voice was astonishingly clear. "Now, are you going to duel me or not?" The ninja-thing reached into his cloak and withdrew a deck of cards, then procured a duel disk from nowhere.

"Fine then!" The fiend activated his duel disk. "This shouldn't take long."

"My feelings exactly." The ninja-thing said. He slipped the duel disk onto his arm, slid his deck into the slot, and activated it.

"Let's duel!"

Ninja-thing: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

The ninja-thing drew his five cards and shrugged. "I told you this wouldn't take long."

"What are you talking about?!?" The fiend said. He sounded scared.

"Exodia." The ninja-thing said quietly.

"What?!?"

"I SUMMON EXODIA THE FORBIDDEN ONE!!!" The ninja-thing said. The massive form of Exodia rose up behind him and blew the fiend into vapor. "Eh. Too easy." The ninja-thing deactivated his duel disk and began to walk away. Drake jumped up. Flynn and Brooklyn did as well.

"Hey, wait!!!" Drake shouted. The ninja-thing stopped and turned. It was the first time he had gotten a good look at his face. At least he was a human. As he had seen before, the bottom half of his face and most of his nose was concealed behind a black mask. He had a blue headband that had a metal plate on it; the metal plate was inscribed with a curious insignia on it. The headband was cocked at a funny angle so that it covered the ninja's left eye. The only bit of his face that could be seen was his right eye and the little skin around it. He looked pale. The rest of his body was entirely shrouded in black, and his feet were clad in something like slippers, not quite slippers, but not hard footwear like shoes.

"Yes?" He said.

"It's just that… we wanted to thank you." Flynn said.

"And you remind me of someone. Who exactly are you and do you have any relation to Matt Peterson?" Drake said.

The ninja's right eye closed in what looked like a huge smile. He reached up with both hands, gripped his hood and his mask, and pulled both off. Then he reached up and pulled the headband up. There was no mistaking it, despite all the impossibilities of it. It was Matt, back from the dead again. Everyone gaped at him.

"How did you survive that?!?" Flynn said. "And where did you get the cool duds?"

"I didn't. I released my soul so that it would take no damage moments before my body was destroyed. And I've had these clothes for a while now. I got 'em a while back, in one of my other occupations. Oh, and about surviving. I released my soul from my body with the power of the Millennium Star, then returned after you had left. I'm sorry to have deceived you into thinking that I was dead, but I couldn't repair my body fast enough." Matt said.

"What do you mean, repair your body?"

"Remember when I said that we wouldn't have to worry about hurting anyone because the bodies we shot didn't have the correct soul? Well, in any case, if you can save your soul in the event of death, and float around as a spirit until they return to their body. Then, if they re-inhabit it, they can slowly repair the body back to operating condition. Speed of repair depends on the person's physical condition and the severity of the injuries. So, I was a little slow to return to my body and to fix it up. Then, I got an appropriate change of clothes for this stealth work and saved you guys."

"Wow. Complicated." Brooklyn said. "I never knew you could do that!"

"I've done it once before. I didn't think it would work again, but I knew I could try. Separating your soul from your body is not a human thing, if everyone could do it, it would be considered unethical. Side effects of it are inhuman characteristics such as unnaturally pale skin, strange eye coloration, and other such things. Besides, I couldn't die yet, could I?"

"No, I guess not." Drake said. "I'm at a loss. I wish I could survive as well as you could."

Matt laughed. "You've done a better job of it than I have so far. Thus far, I should be dead twice. You have yet to take a critical injury."

"Oh! Shit!" Drake said. The words "critical injury" had sparked his memory of Julie. "Matt, Julie got hurt bad during the last Shadow Game-"

"Was she playing in it?"

"Not exaclty."

"Continue." Matt looked troubled.

"Well, instead of saddling me with the usual burden of the Shadow Game, the fiend kinda… warped Julie away to that little alcove over there, and chained her to that wall." Drake pointed.

"Go on."

"Then, for every 100 life points I lost, he caused that rotary gun over there to fire these little darts at her. He said they wouldn't hit her vital areas, but some of them started 'missing' and hit her in the stomach. I want to make sure she's okay, I know nothing about medical stuff. And also, she has these little purple bumps around the wounds."

"Show me, quickly!" Drake lead Matt to Julie's unconscious form and showed him the wounds. Flynn picked up Keith's body and threw it over his shoulder again. Brooklyn hung back, watching the hallway with his laser ready. Matt checked the wounds, pressed his ear to Julie's chest and listened for her heartbeat, then nodded. "Well, she's alive, but these purple spots… I don't like them." He yanked one of the darts that Drake had missed out of Julie's stomach, then, to Drake's shock and horror, pulled back his sleeve and stabbed it into his arm. "Hmm…"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?" Flynn shouted. "You could kill yourself!!!"

"I doubt it." Matt said, as the little purple spots began to appear on his arm. "Hmm… this is a deadly disease, I think… I have little experience with the diseases of the Shadow Realm, and there are quite a few, but I've seen this one before. It's called Shadowpox, it's the Shadow Realm breed of Smallpox, except that it is much more deadly."

"More deadly than Smallpox?" Drake said. "That's not good… it's infecting Julie!"

"Yes, that presents us a problem. I know only one cure for Shadowpox… and it only works if the diseased has yet to be sufficiently infected."

"Spit it out! You're wasting time."

"Okay, to cure Shadowpox, one must take another human's blood, touch each point of infection with it, then clean each wound with an antibacterial solution."

"Who wants to donate blood to Julie?" Drake asked. Flynn shrugged. Brooklyn remained looking resolutely away. Matt bared his arm and dealt himself a terrible gash on the arm with one of his kunai. He dropped his kunai and dipped his fingers into his own blood.

"Help yourself Drake, I swear, I haven't got anything." Matt said. Slightly disgusted, Drake dipped his fingers into Matt's blood and began to put it onto all of Julie's little wounds. Matt took the other half of her body. It didn't take long to dab all the wounds in Matt's blood, as they were all pretty close together. After that Matt reached into his cloak with his non-bloody arm and pulled out a bottle of disinfectant. "Never leave home without it." He unscrewed the cap, pulled a little ball of cotton out of the neck, and began to dab each of Julie's wounds with it. It took him less than two minutes. Then, he replaced the cotton ball, screwed the cap back on, and put it back into his cloak. "That should do it. And I think we're just in time, too. A little more and she would have been beyond saving…"

Drake breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't think he could bear it if they lost Julie. "Thank you, Matt… how did you learn all this stuff?"

"Well, the Shadow Realm stuff I learned from experience and reading ancient texts. But I was an army medic a few years ago, after my ninja days."

"You really were a ninja?"

"Of course. How do you think I got the garb?"

"No clue."

Julie groaned and sat up. The first person she saw was Matt. "Oh, hello Matt… so I died at last? Nice clothes, by the way."

Matt chuckled. "No, actually you survived that. Look the other way." Julie looked over and saw Drake.

"Oh! Drake! So I didn't die? But I remember this horrible pain… I thought I was dead. But wait… MATT! YOU'RE ALIVE!!!" She screamed, and threw her arms around him. His eyes went wide for a moment, and he looked uncomfortable. Despite this, he started to slowly pat her on the back (with effort, as she had pinned his arms to his sides with her hug). "But… how?" She released him. Matt took a deep breath and explained everything again. "Wow… confusing."

"Yes, now let's go. We need to get out of here before more fiends come."

"But you're hurt…"

"It's self-inflicted. I needed to do it to heal you." Matt took out a long bandage and wrapped his arm in it. "All better. Now, we need to go. I don't want to face an even larger fiend army."

"Ah, with you hanging around again, we're not going to lose to anyone!" Flynn said. Matt just smiled.


	45. Straight to the Core

Chapter 45- Straight to the Core

"Okay, we're not far from the headquarters of this invasion." Matt said. "That is, assuming that the core of the realm is where they're headquartered."

"It's gotta be." Brooklyn said. "We've been everywhere else."

"You haven't been to the torture chambers of the living." Matt pointed out.

"Where?" Julie asked.

"Oh, the areas where the wielders of the Millennium Items placed people in to torment them and then never cleaned up. There's a few. For example, the one Marik used to torment Mai Valentine near the middle of the Battle City Tournament. He never destroyed it, so it's still there, adding to the useless space. Oh well, it can't be helped. Now, the core of the Shadow Realm is very, very dark. It's almost impossible to see without an external source of light. It'll be hard to keep track of fiends and each other, though it will eventually get better because you'll get used to it."

"Well, it's called the Shadow Realm, I would expect it to be dark." Flynn said. "How are we going to negate this disadvantage?"

"Well, it doesn't bother me, because I can 'see' without using my eyes. I can feel the vibrations in the air and in the floor and walls to detect movement and where things are. So, I have no problems with the dark. It's you guys I'm more worried about. Now, let's think… does anyone have a flashlight?"

"Why would we have a flashlight?" Drake asked.

"No reason. But I might as well ask. Something as simple as a flashlight would be good. But since we don't have one, we could use anything that provides light. Any ideas?"

"Well, our duel disks light up." Julie pointed out.

"Not enough to be useful." Matt said.

"Oh."

"Well… we could burn something." Flynn suggested.

"Like what? I'm not burning my cards."

"Okay, never mind then. What else do we got?"

"Brooklyn, cook the barrel of the laser."

"Huh?"

"Push that button."

Brooklyn pushed a small button under his thumb. A little cylinder inside the barrel of his laser lit up and began to spin. "Won't this waste the power?"

"Not really. To generate the power to fire a laser requires much more power than causing the barrel to light up and spin. So, we could cook the barrel for a nearly unlimited time. How much have you been shooting?"

"Eh, I would guess about 1000 shots by now. You know I don't care about accuracy."

"Well, we should be okay. It doesn't give much light, but it'll help a little. Besides, it also reduces the energy needed to fire the laser, because it's already ready to shoot. We might be able to find something else deeper in. Until then, I'll try to keep you guys up to speed with the developments. I would teach you the technique but it took me nearly three years to get it right, and I don't think you'll get it in five minutes. Everyone ready?"

"Yes, we've been ready." Flynn said. "Just let me shoot something."

"Don't get thinking that way, or you might turn out like me." Matt said, smiling.

"In that case, I think I will keep acting like this." Flynn said. Matt just smiled again and gestured for them to follow. Everyone readied their weapons and followed. As they walked the light began to get dimmer and dimmer.

"Uh, Matt, how are you going to defend yourself?" Drake asked.

"I'll use these." Matt said, spinning two kunai knives around from his fingertips. He had his fingers through the little holes at the ends of the knives.

"Doesn't that make you a little vulnerable since you have to get up close to attack?"

Matt caught the spinning knives. With a flick of his wrist he threw them into the distant wall. They hit within an inch of each other. "Not really." He flicked his wrist back towards him and the kunai, attached to strings from his fingers, jumped back towards him. He lazily caught them. "See? I'm deadly at range even without a gun! And I've also got these, which were meant for range." He pulled a few shuriken out of a little pouch at his hip.

"Why did you never use those before?"

"I didn't have them on me, even though I should probably always carry some." He put the shuriken back and resumed spinning the kunai. They walked in silence for a little while, at least until it got pitch-black and the only light was the spinning barrel of Brooklyn's laser, which, though it was bright, couldn't penetrate much farther than five feet from Brooklyn. "Ah, nice and dark, just how I like it." Matt said.

"Why do you like it dark?" Julie asked.

"Oh, I have a problem with people. I hate being in a room with too many people; anymore than about 45, and it makes me uncomfortable. And people have a problem with my physical appearance."

"I wonder why." Flynn said facetiously.

Matt continued. "In the darkness people don't see me for my looks, they see me for my personality, which is nice. Of course, as soon as the lights come on they call me a freak and run. Kinda funny. Anyway, the darkness prevents most people from seeing me, which I like because then I don't have to meet and greet them."

"Oh… I didn't know you were antisocial… does that mean you don't like being around us?" Julie said.

Matt laughed. "Just remember this- almost nothing is absolute. There's an exception to almost everything. I suppose that you guys would fall amongst those. Oh, yes, and Drake? Duck."

Drake hit the ground hard. He felt bullets whizzing over his head. They suddenly stopped as the fiend died equally suddenly. "Can I get up now?"

"Yeah, go on. I killed him." Matt said. "I almost missed him. Sorry about that."

"It's okay." Drake said, getting to his feet.

"Hey, what's this on the wall?" Flynn asked.

"That's a torch. But what are we going to lit it with?" Matt said.

"Don't you have some kind of ninja art which allows you to make fire or something?" Drake heard Flynn remove the torch from its wall bracket.

"Not really. But I could probably make a fire another way." Drake heard the sounds of metal scraping together, then saw a shower of sparks. He heard the metal again, and this time the sparks turned into a blazing flame. Matt was standing next to Flynn, holding two kunai and scraping them against each other. Flynn was holding the torch. "There, that helps. Now we can all see!"

"Yeah, but what if it burns out?" Drake asked. "Then we're screwed."

"It shouldn't for a while. Unless a fiend comes up to us and blows it out. But I assure you, he will die long before he gets anywhere near us."

"Let's go." Flynn said, and, holding the torch up, moved farther into the dark core of the Shadow Realm. Everyone followed.

"How much farther is it?" Julie asked. "I'm tired…"

"It's still pretty far to the core. As for being tired, I cannot help you, that is a side effect of the extreme darkness here. It makes you kind of tired if you're not used to it." Matt said. "But hey, don't fall asleep on me, we all still need you!" For some reason Matt seemed to be in a very good mood. Drake was curious.

"Matt, I've never seen you in such a good mood, what's up?" He asked.

"Oh, we're just getting real close to finishing this, and it always makes me happy to be getting closer to eradicating some sinister evil. And, at the moment, there are no fiends anywhere near us. It makes me happy to not have to kill every two seconds."

"I thought you enjoyed that."

"Oh, I do, just not all the time. No matter how much fun anything is, it does get boring with repetition. Besides, these fiends don't bleed like normal people! That's no fun."

"You like the blood? For me, that's got to be the worst part."

"Well, I suppose that when I touched the key, it had some long term effects as well as the short-term berserking effects, namely giving me an almost insatiable bloodlust."

"Yeah, you should see him when he gets mad." Brooklyn whispered in Drake's ear. "There's not a clean wall in the house left."

"I heard that, Brooklyn, even if it is true." Matt said.

"Speaking of the key, why is it that Julie has to carry it all the time?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, why can't I get a break from being ridiculously responsible and important?" Julie asked. She pulled out the key. "Why can't Drake handle it for a while?"

"Firstly, put it back in your pocket." Matt said. Julie (somewhat reluctantly) put the little coin back into her pocket. "Secondly, it is because she is not as susceptible to despair as the rest of us, at least not to the point of rage."

"What do you mean by that?" Drake asked. "As fair as I've seen she's almost always the first of us to start crying when someone's getting hurt."

"That's just emotion, concern. However, have you ever seen her get violent when she's sad?"

"No… I don't think I've ever seen her violent at all."

"I don't like to get violent… then other people get hurt and it makes me even more sad." Julie said.

"See what I mean? She can hold it because even under the incredible despair it causes, she will not become enraged, like the rest of us are prone to do. Most people, you see, respond to despair and sadness with rage and violence. Don't ask me why, that just seems to be the way it is. Julie, however, is different from the norm. She does not, hence how she is immune to it. Actually, because she will not respond to despair in this way, it actually won't cause her any despair at all. Don't know why that is."

"Oh, okay. I was wondering for a while. I though maybe I could save her a little pain by relieving her of that responsibility." Drake said. Julie gave him a curious look. A little smile began to tug at the corner of Matt's mouth. "What? Is it something I said?"

Matt began to shake with suppressed laughter. "Oh, nothing." He turned away and began to laugh silently. Drake was confused. "Oh, hang on! DUCK!" Everyone hit the ground as bullets whizzed over their heads. Drake opened fire from the prone position and hit a couple fiends in the head. He frowned and aimed lower.

"There's a lot of them!" Flynn said.

"Doesn't matter! They're not coming very fast! Let's push them back!" Matt said from right up in front of the fiend horde. He seemed to be able to dodge the bullets even at close range. "Come on!" Brooklyn and Flynn jumped up and followed Matt as they began to push the fiend army back. Drake began to get up when Julie called him back.

"Drake." She called after him.

"Yes Julie?" He said, and ran back towards her. "Do you need something?"

"I just wanted to thank you for your concern about my welfare. I really appreciate that you care about my wellbeing." She leaned closer and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. Drake blushed.

"Uh, thanks." Drake said. He did like the kiss, but he was also a little embarrassed that she was being so intimate on a battlefield. "Right, let's go!" They ran up to join the others. All the fiends were already dead.

"Oh, you guys are okay. I was a little worried." Flynn said.

"Of course they're okay. Now that the happy couple has joined us, we can move on." Matt said. He was smiling a knowing smile, and somehow Drake didn't doubt that he knew what had happened back there.


	46. Finally There

Chapter 46- Finally There

They fought their way deeper into the Shadow Realm's core for nearly twenty more minutes. There were fiends everywhere. The farther in they got, the happier Matt got.

"Almost there!" Matt said cheerfully, slicing a fiend into many pieces with the precision of a surgeon. "It should only take us about ten more minutes to reach the very core!"

"What about the Vault of Souls?" Drake shouted, hammering away on his AK-74su. "Don't we need to free those people too?"

"We can do that after we confront the mastermind!" Matt shouted back. "If we release the souls now, it is very likely that those who were possessed will simply be repossessed when the fiends are kicked out! Besides, the Vault is closer to the surface." He turned to face an entourage of about 300 intelligent fiends. "Oh, dear."

"Ha! Now we can take you all out!" One fiend said. "I-"

"Stop! I challenge all of you guys to a… hang on, how many of you are there?" Matt interrupted quickly.

"I think I brought exactly 307 of my brethren." The fiend said.

"Okay, a 307-on-1 duel, how about that? All you guys versus me." Matt said.

"Matt, you're insane!" Julie said. "How can you possibly win?"

"Hang on, we need to confer on this." The head fiend said. All 307 fiends huddled into one giant circle. Matt raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry about me, Julie. I've taken more people down with a worse deck than this." Matt said.

"Oh, are you talking about that 683-on-1 trick?" Brooklyn asked. Matt nodded. "Ooooo, this is going to be good!" The fiends un-huddled.

"We accept!" The head fiend said.

"You needed to confer to decide that?" Matt said, and activated his duel disk. "I'll go last."

"Very well!"

"Let's duel!" said 308 voices.

All Fiends: 4000 

**Matt: 4000**

The first fiend drew his card. "This is going to take a while." Matt said over his shoulder.

"We all make exactly the same move! I summon my Archfiend Soldier (Dark/Fiend, 1900/1500) in attack mode and set a card!" said the first fiend.

"Yes, we all do!" said all the other fiends. 306 more Archfiend Soldiers appeared as well as 306 other facedowns. "Just try and take us!"

"I will." Matt said, and drew his card. He smiled. "Just what I expected. I activate Mpirian Power Fusion! Do you know what it does?"

"Yes." Said the head fiend.

"Good, that saves me a great deal of tedious explanation. I fuse High King Matt, the Legendary Wizard (Secret Unveiled) and Thorgricarian King Lv. 16 to form the almighty Matt and Thorgy (Light/Warrior/Mpire/Fusion/Effect, 12600/12000) in attack mode! Of course, I must give up half my life points…"

All Fiends: 4000 

**Matt: 2000**

"Oooo, this is good." Flynn said.

"Got that right! And I think I know what else he has in store…" Brooklyn said.

"So what?" said one of the fiends. "On the next turn, after you've destroyed one of us, one of us will activate their United We Stand spell card to give one of our soldiers an insurmountable amount of attack points!"

"None of you will have a next turn." Matt said. "Because now I activate the Prosperity of Mpire Continuos Spell Card!"

"What does that do?" said the same fiend.

"Well, I pay 1000 life points…"

All Fiends: 4000 

**Matt: 1000**

"Why would he give up this many life points in one turn?" Julie asked.

"Because unless those facedowns are all Rush Recklessly, and they aren't, Matt's going to win this turn." Brooklyn said.

"Right!" Matt said. "By playing this card, I do not have to pay the cost of an Mpire card as long as it remains on the field!"

"What kind of effect do you have in mind???" said the fiends, almost in perfect unison.

"Well, Matt and Thorgy has the nice ability to retain all the effects of its fusion materials. And one of those effects allows me to pay 1000 life points per activation to allow him at attack again and again, so long as I keep destroying monsters. So, I'll just attack and destroy the first fiend… then activate the effect, destroy another, 307 times. So, die!"

All Fiends: 0 

**Matt: 1000**

"Everyone, get down." Matt said. Everyone dropped to the grounds as all 307 fiends exploded. Matt was smiling a wild grin. "I love that trick."

"Matt, where do you get your tricks?" asked Flynn.

"Oh, right! I never told you." Matt said. "You mean the cards, right?"

"Yeah, I've been wondering for a while."

"So have I. How did you get such overpowered cards?" Drake said.

"Simple story really. I was an acquaintance of Maximillion Pegasus for a number of years, and helped him out in a few tight spots. Nothing huge and notable at any time, but it all stacked up enough that he decided to let me create an entire series of my own specialized cards. So I created two decks: one for me and one for Brooklyn. That's really all there is to it."

"I see." Flynn said.

"So you did get them directly from II." Julie said.

"Yep." Matt said, and stood up. "Come on, let's get moving." Everyone stood up and followed him. They walked for about seven minutes, killing whatever got in there way. A further three minutes found them on a large balcony overlooking what seemed to be a massive army of fiends, all lined up into columns and rows. Each was armed. Every fourth column of fiends was intelligent. There was a large stone door behind all this, as well as a what looked like a throne. No mastermind or overlord of any kind was present.

"Well, gents and lady, welcome to the core of the Shadow Realm." Matt said.

"It's huge!" Julie said. "There has to be over 4,000 fiends down there!"

"There probably is." Flynn said. "What's the plan?"

"Screw a plan, when has that ever helped us?" Brooklyn said.

"Many times, Brooklyn, many times." Matt said. "We need to find the mastermind. Once we do, we can challenge him to a wonderful game of chance. We need to win, if we're smart, we should have five chances- one for each of us. Now that we've gotten here, everyone is relatively expendable, but please don't _try_ to get yourself killed. That's just stupid."

"How do we find the mastermind?" Drake asked.

"We look for the guy that's shouting at everyone. Or, just look for the only human amongst them. The great thing about these fiends is that they never just randomly invade our realm, there's always someone else controlling them that's not a fiend." Matt said.

"How are we going to get down there?" Flynn said. "Maybe you can do your little ninja thing and get down there perfectly quietly, but we can't."

"We can always take these convenient stairs." Brooklyn suggested.

"Well, that would work."

"Wow, Brooklyn, you're getting smarter by the hour!" Matt said.

"Stop making fun of me!" Brooklyn said. His tone was joking. "I'm not that stupid."

"Right, let's go." Matt began to creep down the stairs. They all followed. Drake was wondering how the stairs had gotten there, he could have sworn that they hadn't been there when they had walked in. He took another step down and the stair crumbled under his foot!

"Crud!" Drake said under his breath. The entire stair case seemed to be crumbling. Everyone began to fall towards the fiends below. Surprisingly, the fiends caught them, which was still a bad thing. Each fiend was smiling evilly.

"Well, look what we have here." The intelligent fiend among them said. "You guys are going to the boss."

"I knew those stairs were too convenient!" Brooklyn shouted, shaking his fist at the crumbling shell of the stairwell. "If something seems too convenient in the Shadow Realm, never touch it, because it is!"

"Blast. Why didn't I see that coming?" Matt said.

"Don't feel too bad about it… you can't foresee everything…" Julie said.

"I know, but I should have seen this one."

"Ah, it's always the ones you should have seen coming that get you." Said a new voice. It cam from a figure wearing a huge black hood that covered his entire face, Darth Sidious-style. "That is the brilliance of it. And now that you are all finally out of the way, I can take control of the world!"


	47. The Last Card

Chapter 47- The Final Card

"Now that I finally have you, I think I'll make sure you die slowly and painfully." Said the mastermind. "But first, I'll be taking the key." He slipped a gloved hand into Julie's pocket and withdrew the key. "Now that I have it, I can release the true horrors of the Shadow Realm!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"You're mad." Matt said disdainfully. "No one can control those beasts. Trust me, I've tried." The mastermind smiled evilly.

"Ah, but you have not been researching the Shadow Realm for most of your life. And I do believe I have been alive longer than you."

"Not by much. I know who you are, and you're not much older than I am."

"Ha! You couldn't be more than 16."

"Why does everyone always think that I'm so young?" Matt said.

"Maybe because you look it." Drake suggested.

"Oh well."

"How could you possibly know who I am?" said the Mastermind.

"Because I am shinobi. I specialize in covertly gathering information. While Julie and I were exploring the duel academy main building, I noticed that every one of the staff had been forcibly attacked and subdued. All except one… Chancellor." Matt said. The mastermind pulled off his hood. Sure enough, it was the Chancellor of the school, Jacobs.

"You're too good for a sixteen-year old." He snarled. His former warm nature had vanished.

"You're right, I'm actually 27. And you can't put anything past me."

"I just did, I believe, I tricked you with the staircase. And I captured you, if I remember correctly. And you should be dead by now!"

"You can't bring me down."

"Yes I can, and I will be the one to personally kill you!" Jacobs picked up an AK-47. "Look at the wonderful weapons I got from my Middle Eastern friends."

"I thought that you might have bought them from terrorists." Matt said.

"Yes, and let's see how well they work." Jacobs planted the barrel firmly between Matt's eyes. "Farewell, you fool."

In a flash Matt was gone. Jacobs looked panicked. "Where did he go?!?"

"Sir, he's over there!" one of the fiends said. Drake turned his head so fast that his neck cracked. Matt was running across the wall of the room, about fifteen feet from the floor. All 3000 or so unintelligent fiends opened fire on him. None of them could hit him because of the rapid pace of his movement. He pushed off the wall and rotated so that he was no flying sideways through the air facing the fiends. There was a series of flashes as a wave of shurikens cut down a few of the fiends. Matt landed on the wall and continued to run around the perimeter of the room.

"KILL HIM, COME ON, THERE'S 3,000 OF YOU!!! SHOOT AT ALL THE WALLS!!!" Jacobs shouted. The fiends turned to face all the walls and opened fire. There was a huge explosion for no apparent reason and everything was covered in smoke.

"MATT!!!" Julie shouted. Jacobs smiled evilly again.

"And that's the end of your annoying friend. I knew I should have never accepted him, but look where that's gotten him- another enemy off my list! Ha!"

"Not yet I'm not!" came Matt's voice. He burst through the cloud of smoke. He landed in the crowd of fiends and began to hack and slash. The fiends opened fire on him. Some shots hit the other fiends, and they died. Some of them came at Matt, but he, by some miracle of speed, managed to deflect the shots with the pair of katanas he was wielding. Fifteen minutes later there was a large pile of bodies surrounding Matt. "So, that's the army you plan to take the world with? If that's it, go ahead and try to take it- you'll never succeed like that."

"That's what you think!" said Jacobs, and all the fiends came back to life. "See? My army is invincible."

Matt checked his sides and back, then readied his katanas. "I can do this all day long."

"Not as soon as I open the gate to the second level of the Shadow Realm." Jacobs said, and held the coin up to the door. Suddenly Drake remembered something.

"Hey, wait! I challenge you to a duel!" Drake shouted. Jacobs stopped, blinked and looked at him.

"A duel?" he said slowly.

"Yes, a duel!"

"Ha! You can't get me like that! I have everything on you, you have nothing to wager!"

"Wrong." Matt said. In a flash the fiend who had been holding Drake back was knocked on his back and Matt was standing next to Drake. The fiends holding the others were blasted away and they were free.

"Now I do!" Drake said. "I wager my soul against the key."

"Not of equal value." Jacobs said, bored. "I can take your soul right now, if I want to."

"Okay, then." Matt said. "He also wagers all three of my souls."

"All three of yours? What are you talking about?"

Matt showed his three souls. "See? You'll be able to stop me once and for all."

"Still not enough."

"Very well, then." Julie said. "I add my soul to our wager."

"And I add mine." Brooklyn said.

"Mine as well." Flynn said. Jacobs grinned.

"Good, I can take you all out in one duel, and even if I lose this, I can still win the key back easily, with all these fiends with me!" He said.

"Not quite. I force fairness." Matt said.

"Huh?"

"You must equal our soul wager with yours. The Shadow Realm wants a soul in this duel, it must have one regardless of who wins it. It's in the rules, go ahead and check it."

"I don't need to. I know you know those rules almost too well. Fine then, I'll add my soul to this wager. And believe me, I don't care, because I know that stupid Drake will not win this duel."

"Is that so?" Drake said. He activated his duel disk. "Put your money where your mouth is."

A duel disk appeared on Jacob's arm. "I hope you're ready for this. I doubt you are with all those classes you slept through."

"Dude, you have no idea how good I am."

"Let's duel!"

Drake: 4000 

**Jacobs: 4000**

"And now, I'll use a new Shadow Game! Since you've wagered all of your souls, whenever your friend takes damage, a part of one of your friend's souls while burn away, lost unless you win this game. Needless to say, it will cause them incredible pain… maybe enough to kill them! But I mustn't get my hopes up. Oh, and your soul will be burnt away the moment your life points hit zero!" Jacobs said.

"You asshole." Drake said.

"Rack them up! I've been waiting for this moment." Jacobs said. The fiends grabbed everyone but Drake and hung them from the chains on the walls. There seemed to be a laser behind each of them.

"Don't worry about us, Drake!" Matt shouted.

"Oh yes, don't worry about us, we're only about to be totally obliterated." Flynn said. "No big deal."

"Now, who should I tear up first?" Jacobs said. "I can only take on at a time… who to cause unendurable pain first?"

"Sir, if I might make a suggestion…" said one of the fiends, and whispered something into Jacobs' ear. He smiled a smile that Drake knew couldn't mean something good.

"Yes, she's been around for too long… and I never liked her anyway! Julie Daran will be first to go!"

Drake scowled. _As usual,_ he thought. _When have they ever picked on anyone else?_ "I'll go second, if we can ever get this duel going."

"Fine then!" Jacobs drew a card. "I summon my Giant Orc (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2200/0) in attack mode! Then I set a card and end my turn."

"Okay, my turn then." Drake said. _I have to stay on my toes, he has to be pretty good._ "Let's see… I summon my Dark Blade (Dark/Warrior, 1800/1600) in attack mode! Then, I'll enhance him with my Rush Recklessly Spell card, which gives him 700 more points! (2500) Now, attack!"

"Ha! I play Widespread Rune, which destroys your monster!"

"Grr… I'll set a card and end my turn." _Just as I thought, he's pretty good. But that doesn't mean that he's better than me._

"Fine then! I summon my Revival Jam (Water/Aqua/Effect, 1500/500) in attack mode!"

"Oh, no…" Drake said under his breath. "I can't block both attacks… I'm sorry, Julie… I wasn't good enough to save you…"

"Now, Giant Orc, attack him directly!"

"I activate Sakuretsu Armor, which destroys the Orc."

"Fine then, Revival Jam, attack him directly!"

Drake: 2500 

**Jacobs: 4000**

"And since you have lost 1000 life points, one of your friend's souls is burned away! And that friend would be Julie Daran!"

"No… I'm sorry…"

The little laser behind Julie spun to life. It widened until it was as wide as she was, then it turned on. The wave of purple light moved up her body, causing no visible damage but causing more pain than any normal laser could have. Julie's screaming echoed through the chamber until at long last the laser finished its trip and shut off. Julie's soulless body hung limply from the wall. Jacobs smiled evilly.

"Don't worry too much Drake, we can bring her back if you just win this." Matt said. Drake smiled sadly.

"I know… but still, it stinks that she had to go through this."

"Don't let it distract you! Focus on the match."

"I know… thanks."

"You know, I still have 500 more points of damage to distribute, so I think I'll hit that annoying Matt with it."

"Jerk." Matt said under his breath. Matt's laser activated and cut halfway up his body, causing his legs to go completely limp. He gritted his teeth against the pain all the way. "No sweat. Bring it on!"

"I can't yet… not this turn anyway." Jacobs said. "I set my entire hand. That's four cards. That will end my turn."

"Wow, lots of facedowns… but I have a guess to what they are." Drake drew a card. "Now I summon my Gemini Elf (Earth/Spellcaster, 1900/900) in attack mode, and attack Revival Jam!"

Drake: 2500 

**Jacobs: 3600**

"You do know his effect, don't you? But before it activates, I activate three facedown cards- all Life Absorbing Machine! Now, whenever I pay life points, each machine gives me half those back on my next standby phase. So, I'll actually gain life points every time I pay! So, I'll activate Revival Jam's effect, which allows me to pay 1000 life points to revive him!"

Drake: 2500 Jacobs: 2600 

"Of course, he'll be in defense mode."

"Okay, I set a card and end my turn."

"Ha! My turn." Jacobs drew a card. "Now, my Life Absorbing Machine cards give me 1500 life points back!"

Drake: 2500 

**Jacobs: 4100**

"Well, that certainly is broken." Flynn said. "Kind of cheesy."

" 'Kind of'? It's very cheesy. Hard to break, too." Matt said.

"Now, I'll summon my Bowganian (Dark/Machine/Effect, 1300/1000) in defense mode! Do you know what he does?"

"No." Drake said.

"Well, during each of my standby phases, he inflicts 600 points of damage to your life points! So you had better hurry and destroy him!"

"I will." Drake said. "Let's see… I'll set a monster in defense mode, and then I'll attack your Bowganian!"

"I activate my Jam Defender Trap card! Now you must attack the Jam instead. And I'll just bring him back, thank you very much."

Drake: 2500 

**Jacobs: 3100**

"Fine. In my Main Phase Two, I play Heavy Storm! Now all your cards are destroyed!"

"No! My life point supply…"

"Yes, it's gone now! So I'll end my turn."

"Grr… fine then." Jacobs said angrily. When he drew his card, his expression went from 0 to 60 in a second. "Thank you for destroying all my cards. But first, before I plat this, my Bowganian does 600 damage to your life points!"

Drake: 1900 Jacobs: 3100 

"And now, my laser will finish off Matt's soul!" The laser burned away what little was left of Matt's tattered soul. He didn't give any sign of the extreme pain he was in except for clenching his teeth against it. Jacobs gave the job a nod of approval. "And I think I'll start on that annoying Chris, as well!" The laser slowly began moving up on Brooklyn. It didn't do much. "Don't think your out of the clear yet, because now I'll sacrifice both of my monsters to summon the Ultimate Obedient Fiend (Fire/Fiend/Effect, 3500/3000)!!! And he cannot attack unless my field is empty, which you kindly done for me! Now, Ultimate Obedient Fiend, destroy the Elf!"

Drake: 300 

**Jacobs: 3100**

"And now, say farewell to that stupid Chris and most of Flynn!"

Both of their lasers activated. Brooklyn's finished its job, and Flynn's burned away a good deal of his soul. "No…" Drake said.

"Yes… feel the despair… you have failed your friends… you only have one left!" Jacobs said. "You will fail your last friend as well."

"Drake! Don't listen to him!" Flynn said. "He just wants to toy with your mind!"

"I know… but it's so hard… there's no one left but you…"

"Focus! Don't fall apart!"

"Okay." Drake said. _I need to plan something here. My facedown monster won't do much, as it uses an effect… and the Fiend negates it, if I remember right. So let's see…_ "My turn! I draw… and set a card and a monster. That's all."

"Ha! Too easy to beat." Jacobs drew a card. "As I cannot attack while I have this card, I'll just have to use it! Dian Keto the Cure Master, which grants me an extra 1000 life points!"

Drake: 300 

**Jacobs: 3100**

"Now, Ultimate Obedient Fiend, destroy that monster!"

"Rats… Apprentice Magician. Normally I would be able to special summon a monster, but as you negated the effect, I can't. Done?"

"Of course."

"Now, my turn." Drake drew a card. _This is tricky, but I think I can pull it off, even if he does pull a card that he can use. One more turn…_ "I set another monster. That's all."

"My turn, then!" He drew a card and smiled. "I summon Exiled Force! They won't be around for long, though, as I can tribute them to destroy one of your monsters! Say goodbye to… that one!"

"Curses… that was the monster I needed." Drake said. "Old Vindictive Magician."

"Yes, and now Ultimate Obedient Fiend will destroy the other one!"

"Hmph. Queen's Knight."

"And soon you will be unable to continue this! One more turn and I'll win permanently!"

"Not yet you haven't." Drake said. _The thing is that I can't disprove him with this. _Drake said, looking at his hand. _Guess I've got to rely on this last card… the last card…_ Drake drew the card slowly. _Come on, right card… there's got to be something in here…_ He glanced at the card, held far of to his side. His eyes widened. _That card…? Where did it come from? I don't remember putting it in my deck… I haven't even seen it before! _He read the card. A huge smile came across his face. _But it'll do._

"What are you planning?" Jacobs yelled. "There's no way you can win!"

"Oh, there is. I'm holding it right now." Drake said. "First, I'll have to summon something… like Mpirian Warrior (Light/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 1500/1200)!"

"A what? Oh, one of those cards that Matt has? When and why would he give you one?"

"No clue, but it's really nice! Now, I'm allowed to summon as many more from my deck as I want! So, say hi to two more Warriors!"

"Summon as many monsters as you want, you can't punch through my fiend!"

"I'm not done with! Say hello to my trump card, Strength in Weakness!"

"Say what?"

"A weird spell card. I can only play it when you have a monster on your side of the field that has more attack points than any of mine, which you do. Also, that monster must have destroyed at least three of my monsters in battle. Now that all those conditions are met, I'm allowed to negate the effect of one of my monsters to grant it an attack boost- a boost equal to the sum of the monsters you destroyed with your monster! So that would be… let's see, you've destroyed Gemini Elf, Apprentice Magician, and Queen's Knight… so the boost is equal to 3900!"

"No! That puts him over my Ultimate Fiend!"

"Oh, yes it does, by a good 1900 points! Mpirian Warrior, destroy the fiend!"

Drake: 300 

**Jacobs: 1200**

"And now, my Mpirian Warrior can destroy you!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…"

Drake: 300 

**Jacobs: 0**

Jacobs' life points hit zero. Something white came out of his back and was dragged away by an unseen force. Jacobs fell to the ground, no longer breathing. Drake, exhausted by the tension and pressure of the duel, fell to his knees. Up on the wall, signs of life came back to his friends. The chains unlocked and each was set free. Julie ran over immediately and gave Drake a hug, so hard was it that Drake felt like his ribs were being crushed.

"You did it! You won!" She kept screaming.

"Yes, I know… could you stop? That hurts…" Drake replied each time. She didn't listen.

"Julie, I know you're excited, but you might want to stop before you crush Drake's lungs." Matt said. Julie finally stopped and Drake stood up. The fiends were milling about aimlessly, their weapons discarded.

"Aren't you guys going to do something?" Drake asked.

"No." said one of the fiends.

"Why not?"

The fiend shrugged. "No reason. We have no reason to continue fighting you. We have no leader any more. Nothing to do but wait now."

Drake was confused. "Don't you have an agenda?"

"No. We are do-nothings… we do nothing unless someone come and tell us to. Otherwise we wait… leader gone, no more orders."

"I see… sort of."

"Interesting… it seems that, in the absence of another to lead them, the fiends are actually neutral in all things." Matt said. "They would be perfectly content to just hang around here and never try to take the world over. Oh, by the way…" Matt tapped a fiend on the shoulder. "Which way is the Vault of Souls?"

"Through there. You wanting to free the souls we take?" said the fiend.

"Yes."

"Go ahead. You have key?"

"I have it." Drake said, showing Matt the key he had picked up near the entrance to the realm. "I picked it up while you weren't with us."

"Good." Matt said. "Let's go then. I'm sure some of us can't wait to tell Keith all that he missed." They entered the dark passage. Julie seemed unsure.

"Do you think that they might have tricked us?" Julie asked.

"No." Flynn said. "They're too lazy to bother with that." The pasage twisted and turned, taking them past several different places they had already been to. It was like a trip down a hellish memory lane. It didn't take nearly as long as the trip in.

"Here it is." Matt said. "The Vault of Souls." He was pointing at an ancient looking door that seemed to be carved out of stone. There was a keyhole in the center. "Go ahead, Drake." Drake nodded, walked forward, inserted the key, and turned. The door instantly sprang open and a tide of souls broke out. There was a flood of noise as the souls whipped past, but seconds later it was gone. Keith stirred and sat up.

"Huh? Where are we?" he asked. "And how is Matt alive?"

Drake, Julie, and Flynn outlined what had happened since he had been gone. "So that's it? I missed all of it?"

"Yep, every bit of it." Brooklyn said. He looked purposefully at Matt. Matt nodded. Brooklyn walked away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Drake asked.

"I have some stuff I need to take care of." He said, and left. Drake looked at Matt, who was wearing a completely neutral expression. "What was that all about?"

"I can't tell you just yet. Maybe another time." Matt said. Drake sighed. He knew he wouldn't get his answer until Matt wanted to give it.

"How do we get out of here?" Julie asked.

"Shouldn't we follow Brooklyn?" Flynn said.

"Yes, go ahead." Matt said. They all walked down another hallway and found the portal that they had entered through. "After you." Everyone walked out through the portal. They found themselves on the Duel Academy campus, just as they had left it.

"Has it been a day, or has no time passed at all here?" Keith said.

"No, very little time has passed." Matt said as he emerged from the gate. The portal inside it closed. "The time inside the Shadow Realm passes very quickly compared to this one, so that those victimized inside of it experience more torment than if they were locked up here. A nasty side effect. I would guess that it's about an hour after we left. Now, because the former Chancellor is no longer in existence, we'll need a new one. I would advise you to get to bed now, so that you don't start in deep trouble with the new one for being late tomorrow morning."

"Who will the Chancellor be?" Drake asked.

"Oh, probably Professor Bentz. He's the top teacher here, they usually get the job." Matt said. "I have some stuff I need to iron out. See you some other time." He turned and walked away. Drake bid good night to everyone and headed off to the red dorm. The door to his room was still missing. He'd have to get it fixed some other time.

_So, that's that. And it hardly took any time at all. _Drake thought. He put his AK-74su into his closet, along with the clips, slipped off his shoes, and fell into bed. He was asleep in minutes.


	48. The Next Day

Chapter 48- The Next Day

Drake woke up early the next morning. The sun was out and his door was lying on the floor. _I wonder who I should tell about that…_ Drake thought. He jumped out of bed, threw his shoes on, and walked out to the front of the Duel Academy building. Everyone else seemed to get there at the same time.

"What a coincidence!" Keith said.

"I don't think there's a such thing as coincidence." Flynn said. "At least, after that ordeal we just went through, I don't."

"Everyone feel okay?" asked Drake.

"I feel pretty good." Flynn admitted.

"I still feel lousy…" Julie said.

"I'm fine." Keith said. There was silence for a while. The door of the main building opened up. Professor Bentz stepped out.

"Oh, hello. I didn't expect any of you to be up this early. What happened last night, do any of you know? And have any of you seen Chancellor Jacobs? I've been trying to find him from hours." He said.

They all looked at each other. "We do." Drake said. "But we had better find some chairs, because it's a long story."

"We can go to my office." The professor said. "It's this way." He lead them up some stairs, down a blood-stained hallway, and into his office. There was a blood spatter on one of the walls. He seated himself behind his desk and gestured to them to seat themselves across from him. They did so. "Alright, what happened last night? I remember that I couldn't sleep, so I was reading a book here, and this huge beast walks into my office, picks me up out of the chair, and throws me up against the wall. That's all I can remember until a few hours ago, when I woke up here. Do you four know anything?"

"Yes, we know everything." Flynn said. "Or, at least, we do now."

"Please explain."

For the next hour, the four of them told the tale of their adventure through the Shadow Realm. Professor Bentz didn't interrupt them, but he did look rather skeptical. When Drake was speaking about his duel against Jacobs, Bentz raised his hand to stop him. "Why would Chancellor Jacobs do this?"

"No clue, we never asked him." Drake admitted.

"Why should I believe any of this? All of the reports I have read deny the existence of the Shadow Realm. Can you prove any of this?"

Drake looked at Flynn. He was the smart one, after all. "I don't know how we can… the only one who can is Matt."

"And I'm supposed to believe it about him, too? About being some kind of superhuman, almost?"

"Well, I guess." Drake said.

"Yeah, he seriously was! Just ask him." Julie said.

"Not right now. Just keep talking for now."

Drake finished the duel, then told about the Vault of Souls and the remainder of the previous night. Professor Bentz got up, pulled a book from his shelf, and laid it in front of them. "Do you know what that is?" He asked.

"No." They all said.

"That's a book listing all the reasons why the Shadow Realm cannot exist. I've read it twice. A very knowledgeable man wrote it. Do you honestly believe that you can convince me otherwise?"

"No." Keith said. "But we can still try."

"That is true. I cannot say that I believe any of your stories. I need proof. I want to believe you, but it just seems to fantastical to believe right now."

"Here, then." Flynn said. He pulled out his AK rifle. "That's the exact rifle I've been using since I picked it up in the Shadow Realm." Bentz reached across and picked up the rifle.

"How do I know that you didn't buy this somewhere?" He asked, looking down the barrel. "You could have bought it and had it brought here."

"True, but there has to be some measure of trust here."

"Do you have anything else?" Bentz asked, and set the rifle on his desk. Flynn tried to take it, but Bentz stopped him. "Not yet. Until I know that your story is true, I cannot let you have a weapon back."

"Anyone got any ideas?" Drake said. "I've got nothing but the few cards I got from Matt."

"All I've got is a ton of wounds…" Julie said. "Especially those from those darts… the purple marks around them never went away."

"Let me see." Bentz said. Julie held out here bare right arm. There were ten small groupings of purple dots. Bentz smiled. "Now there is no way that I can deny your story. There is no earthly disease that would create such markings, nothing in this world would do this. I accept your story as true, despite all my prior doubts." He handed Flynn the rifle. "You might need it."

"I doubt it, but I'll take it in case I do." Flynn said.

"In the meantime, I need to alert the staff to this development. They won't doubt me. We need to appoint someone else as Chancellor. You four can rest for the rest of the day, I'm giving you it off. Julie, you should probably go to the medical wing to seek treatment for those wounds."

"Matt already treated them." Drake said.

"How? Julie said the spots haven't gone away."

"Yeah, but he neutralized the disease."

"With what?"

"His own blood."

"That sounds like it wouldn't do anything."

"It did though, I swear it did."

"If you insist. I should talk to Matt, too…hmm… I've got a lot of work to do. See you four later. And get some rest." He stood up and left. Drake stood up.

"We should go talk to Matt." He said.

"You're right." Flynn said. "I'm curious as to why he wasn't here before us."

"Yeah, usually he would be here long before us." Keith said. Everyone stood up and walked out of Professor Bentz's office.

"Which dorm is he in again?" Julie asked.

"Gold, of course." Drake said.

"Of course. Stupid of me to ask. Which room?"

"He lives four doors down from me." Flynn said. They turned the corner and saw the gold dorm- or gold mansion, as it should be described. Drake had never seen a bigger housing complex. Flynn walked up to the front door and opened it. "Make sure you stay by me. They don't like the 'lesser dorms' coming here."

"I would guess they wouldn't." Keith said. Flynn climbed a set of stairs (marble stairs, Drake noticed) and walked down a hall. He passed his own smashed-open door and continued down the hall. Matt's room was open, and he wasn't in it. Nothing was. It had been picked clean except for the bed, lamp dresser, and nightstand.

"Where is he?" Drake asked.

"He's gone." Flynn said.

"There's a note on the bed." Keith said. He picked it up and read:

"I'm leaving. Don't try to find me at the base; I blew it up. The press will get out here and find this out, mark my words. And the Egyptian government still wants my head, so I'll have to clear out of here. Julie, your spots will go away in seven days. Sorry I couldn't do any more. If you ever need to contact me, check the back. Don't contact me unless it is _absolutely necessary._ The government might trace it, and that would be no good. We'll see each other again. I promise. –Matt."

"Check the back." Julie said. Keith turned it over.

"I says ' Under that is 'phoenix.' Then it says 'password box.' What do you think it means?" Keith said.

"Let's see this website." Flynn said, and flipped on Matt's computer.

"You get computers in this dorm?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, It's nice." Flynn opened up the internet browser and entered the website. A blue screen with many lines of text came up. On the upper right side was two links to "Register" and "Log In." "Let's try that." Flynn said, and clicked the link marked "Log In." A new screen came up, showing two empty boxes. One said "User Name." The other said "Password."

"That's gotta be it." Julie said, reached over Flynn's shoulder, and typed in "Phoenix." She reached to click okay.

"Wait!" Drake said. "He said to only do that if we really need him."

"Oh, right." She said. She deleted the password.

"We'll just have to keep it in mind in case something else happens." Flynn said, and pocketed the note. "Well, we really should get some sleep."

"Yeah." Drake said. "See you guys." Each of them went to their own dorm. Drake slipped out of his shoes again and fell asleep almost instantly.

-------------------------------

Matt stood on the cliff over looking duel academy. Brooklyn was behind him. He had seen the other four speak to Professor Bentz.

"Brooklyn!"

"Yeah?"

"We're done here. We need to get out of here before the heat gets here."

"Yeah. I know. How are we getting out of here?"

"I called in an airlift."

"Other Matt?"

"Yeah." Matt surveyed the entire island. "We'll be back, you know."

"I had guessed as much."

"At least, I'm pretty sure we will be. They'll call me eventually."

"Phoenix?"

"Yeah. Those fiends won't be left alone… some power-hungry fool will hear this story on the news and try to dig up the key."

"Where did you put that, anyway?"

"It was in the base when I blew it up. So right now it's buried underground, waiting to be dug up. I hope that no one finds it." A helicopter flew in next to them. A kid who looked about Matt's age was flying it. "Hello Matt. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to get us out of here. And thanks for the webspace, it was useful."

"Of course." He said. "Get in, I don't want to stay here too long."

Matt jumped into the helicopter. Brooklyn was right behind him. "Let's go, then. Drop me off at the Point of Solitude."

"Right." Other Matt said. He turned the chopper around and began to fly away. Matt leaned out of the hold of the helicopter, his cloak billowing in the winds created by the chopper's rotors.

"Farewell, all. I shall return."

The End…?

Notes from the Author: Yes, in case you're wondering, all of the Mpire Cards are of my creation. And yes,  is a real website. It is actually owned by a Matt. No, the Phoenix thing doesn't actually do anything. Thanks to all who read and reviewed this as I was writing it, specifically Kareaborg, Writer of the Cards, and aceofspades. As for a sequel, I'll do one if I get enough demand. I've left this open-ended one purpose. But I might not… it all depends.


End file.
